 The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present the Pacific Story. This is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the people whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific War. This is the background to the war in the Pacific and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. Tonight's Pacific Story, China's secret weapon comes to you from San Francisco and Hollywood as another public service with drama of the past and present and commentary by Dr. Wei Taoming, the Chinese ambassador to the United States. This secret weapon sails in valleys of free China where before the war there was only the sound of pheasants tilling the soil, today industry roars. Where there was only simple handicraft, today thousands of spindles hum. Where only simple tools were fashioned, today giant forges turn out the dynamic sinews of war. Open with the ancient past and this found a new strength in the most powerful of all weapons, industry. China's fixed policy is resistance and reconstruction. With these watch words, China for thousands of years an agricultural nation has turned to industry. The task was enormous. We are equipped to produce only one hundredth the amount of steel we need. China was being attacked by highly industrialized Japan. Our spinning industries are almost entirely within the grasp of the Japanese. We do not have one spinning factory in the interior. Yes, and we have only a few thousand miles of railroads. China needed one hundred thousand miles of railroads. And we have only sixty thousand miles of highways. China needed a million miles of highways. The operation of our coal mines and our iron mines is old fashioned. And we do not have one cement factory, not one oil refinery. China was more than eighty five percent agricultural. To resist, we must industrialize. But most Chinese had never seen any machinery. Most of them had never had the chance to develop even the simplest mechanical skills. And the enemy was advancing on the few industries they had on the coastal plains of China. Load every piece of machinery that can be moved. We will have to take every piece of machinery apart or we shall not be able to move it. Take it apart and hurry. There is not a moment to waste. Yes, sir. This plant will soon be in the hands of the enemy and we must not lose a single piece of this machinery. Yes, sir. All right. Take it apart. Take it apart. The Central Machine Shop, the biggest in China, was moved from the province of Hunan across country to the province of Hunan. You are building these turbo generators right here? Yes, sir. Americans came to observe the new plant. This is remarkable. We also make boilers here and spinning machinery. And we assembled trucks with the parts sent here from other plants. Plants were springing up in a hundred places in free China, far in the interior, far from the invading Japanese. This is a vegetable oil cracking plant. Here we produce lubricating oil, gasoline and fuel oil for many purposes. Three hundred sixty chemical plants were put into operation. This is the central electrical manufacturing works. Nearly fifty electrical equipment plants went into operation making telephones. Switchboards, transformers, wire and radio sets. This is one of our new flour mills. Before the war, China had eight flour mills. Now, seventeen were in operation. Plants were started to produce munitions, leather, cement, sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfate, nitric acid. Whether it had not been one weeding plant, one hundred twenty thousand spindles were put in. A noble courageous start had been made. But now China was fighting for her life against one of the best equipped, most ruthless enemies the world had ever seen. China had started to industrialize, as Sun Yat-sen had foreseen she must. Six great projects must be launched to reconstruct China. So spoke Sun Yat-sen. The first three of these projects must be devoted to building communications. The fourth project must be devoted to the building of railways and heavy industries. The fifth to light industries and the sixth to mining. Sun Yat-sen foresaw the need of railways and highways in every part of China. Of canals, navigable rivers, new ports. Sun Yat-sen saw the need of machinery. And now China set herself to the task of industrializing. This meant starting from the very beginning. It meant starting with the raw materials. It meant the training of millions of men. Of men, China had plenty. Of the minerals required to develop industry, coal, iron, copper and oil. She had plenty of some, not enough of others. China has all the coal she needs. The task would be to mine the coal efficiently in order to supply a modern industry. China has enough iron ore. Each one has an iron deposit of one hundred thirty seven million five hundred thousand tons. And steel can be produced in Shanxi, Manchuria and Hunan. China's copper resources are not adequate. China has many copper mines but the ore is not high grade. We have little oil but our liquid fuel industry helps make up for this shortage. The alcohol we make here is used in place of gasoline. If it's a substitute for gasoline you must make a great deal of it. We do. Last year in the thirteen provinces of free China we produced twelve million gallons of alcohol. But you also have to have lubricating oil. We produce that from vegetable materials. China is adequate in coal and iron. Inadequate in copper and oil. But she is strong in other minerals. We have most of the world's supply of tungsten which is used for electric lights. We have large deposits of antimony which is used for telephones. We have tin. We have gold. And we have zinc, mercury, lead, bolidinum and wolfrum. But looking ahead China must decide whether she will develop a heavy industry and the light industry or whether she will develop one and not the other. Light industry would be best for China. So there's one group. Light industry will give the Chinese people most for its money no matter how much is invested. Light industry would provide more employment than heavy industry and it would mean more foreign exchange. Besides it would provide the things the average Chinese needs. Flower, medicine, shoes, clothing. China needs these things much more than she needs tanks and cannons and warships. But on this there is a sharp difference of opinion. No. We must face the grim fact that the only nation that is safe is a strong nation. We must make China so strong she can never again be overrun by any nation. This means we must have a heavy industry. We must make iron and steel in great quantities so that we may build tanks and guns and ships and railroads. To do that China would have to have an iron and steel industry capable of producing 5 million tons of steel a year. That is 100 times more than she produced before the war. And with her present resources China can produce no more than 2 million tons of steel a year. If she produces more than this she will have to import iron ore from Malaya or the Philippines. To the heavy industry advocates this problem can be solved. China has adequate coal and iron and transportation in three provinces. Manchuria in Shansi and in Hunan. And here China can develop three great centers of steel production. But developing a heavy industry involves a tremendous outlay. China has virtually had to start from the beginning. And how she develops her heavy industry from now on will depend on what is done with Japan's heavy industry. As she fought the Japanese China fought to develop her heavy industry. As she set up plans for the production of iron and steel. She set up plans to manufacture machines more and more machines. In 1943 Chinese factories produced 6,000 industrial machines and more than 1 million machine parts. To run her industries she needed electrical equipment. So she set up plans to manufacture electrical equipment. And to run her electrical equipment she needed electric power. And so she set about planning one of the most ambitious electric power industries on earth. Here is where we plan to build the great Yangtze River Dam. Here was the heart of China's proposed TVA. This Yangtze River Dam will be bigger than your Boulder Dam. The Chinese engineer pointed to the proposed site on a great map. Let's see. That's just near the eastern of the Yangtze Gorge, isn't it? Yes. In the general vicinity of Ichang. And how high do you think that will raise the water of the river? It would raise the water level above the dam by about 160 meters. That should produce a tremendous amount of hydraulic power. Enough to generate 10 million kilowatts of electricity. That is enough to electrify this entire area here. How big an area is that? About 1,000 miles in diameter. That's bigger than the area between Chicago and New York. Yes. This will mean, for example, that all rail traffic in this area could be electrified. And it would mean that this whole interior basin could be developed into an industrial area. It would provide low-cost power for industries, for the manufacture of, say, chemicals and household and farm tools and textiles. But the greatest benefit of the dam would be to agriculture. Irrigation? Well, yes. Half of the power produced could be used to electrify this area and the other half for the manufacture of chemical fertilizers. Well, surely not enough to supply China's needs. Whom more? We would have a surplus to export. And in addition to the fertilizer, agriculture would benefit by the irrigation. Many of the fields could be supplied by gravity flow from the reservoir. And others would be supplied through pumping stations. How many people do you estimate the dam would serve? Nearly half of China's population, about 200 million people. 200 million? It would increase the output of food and of raw materials and exports. Exports? Oh, yes. What about navigation on the river after the dam was built? We are planning to build a lock, something like the locks in the Panama Canal, but it would be five times as high as any lock in the world. Then you plan to continue using the upper river for navigation? Oh, indeed. With this lock or system of locks, it would be possible for ocean vessels of more than 10,000 tons to sail all the way up to Chongqing, some 1,500 miles from Pacific. So you see this Yangtze River Dam. But even this great power project is only part of China's vast industrial plan. The Yangtze River Dam would produce 10 million kilowatts of power, but other power plants, some of them operated by fuel instead of water, would produce another 10 million kilowatts. And looking ahead, Chinese planners foresee other basic needs. China will need 80 million telephones. 80 million telephones. China will need 12 million miles of telephone cable. 12 million miles of telephone cable. China will have to build a million new homes a year. A million new homes a year. In addition, China's needs for transportation will be enormous. China will need 25,000 locomotives. China will need 300,000 freight cars. China will need 12,000 transport planes. And what about ships, considering the China plans to handle its own domestic shipping? China will immediately need about 1 million tons of shipping, and ultimately will need 10 million tons. To achieve these goals, China must have skilled men and money. In the first five years after the war in the Pacific, China will need 100,000 civil engineers, 45,000 mechanical engineers, and at least 15,000 electrical engineers. She will need not only skilled planners and engineers, but she will need trained workers. To get these, China is already training young men in science and technical schools. Sending others abroad to study in Britain and the United States, and training still others in the industries. I am a graduate of the middle school. The middle school is equal to high school. I am being trained to be a foreman. Do you work right here in this factory? Part of the time, yes, and the rest of the time outside the factory. I am studying mechanical drawing and mathematics and sharp techniques. Oh, yes. And are you paid? No, I am not paid at this stage, but I have furnished food and clothing and a place to live in the dormitory. These young men being trained to perform and live in comfortable dormitories separate from the factory workers. I will be paid when I become proficient. But how long will that take? About a year, and as I improve, my pay will increase. That's something to work for? How long is your training course? Mine will last three years. Some last only two years. When I have completed my training, I will go into a factory as a journeyman and after some time will become a foreman or an instructor. In this way, we are... As more and more workers and foremen are trained, Chinese industry moves toward mass production. American methods are introduced. And the Chinese, who quickly adapt themselves to working with machinery, quickly adopt the latest methods. And encouraged by the Chinese government, they are being organized into labor unions. The Guomandong headquarters here in our city helped us organize our labor union. This is a Chinese industrial worker. All of us must join unions. Is that a government requirement? Yes. Here, look at this. Thank you. China's wartime labor policy. Oh, is this brought out by the government? Yes, by the Ministry of Social Affairs. Uh-huh. The aims of China's wartime policy are first, to strengthen union structure through government guidance. Second, to bring unions closer together. Third, to organize workers in war areas and guerrilla areas. Fourth, to affect closer cooperation of the Chinese labor unions with the international labor unions. Oh, I see. This means that the government is taking an active... And all this training of workers and theaters, all this industrial expansion will require money, stupendous amounts of money. In the first five years after the war, China will need $10 billion of foreign capital. $10 billion. China will welcome foreign capital in our post-war economic reconstruction. The old Chinese law stipulated that foreign capital could not exceed 49% in any corporation. It also provided that both the chairman of the board of directors and the general manager be Chinese. But under the new law, almost all of the regulations limiting the use of foreign capital have been abolished. And also under the new law, only the chairman of the board must be a Chinese. Is an American businessman like myself going to be permitted to do business by himself in China? Yes. Any foreigner may do business in China, either by himself or in joint enterprises with Chinese. Of course, all foreigners will be expected to abide by Chinese laws. Will the Chinese government stipulate which industries a foreigner can go into? No. It is the duty of the government to operate, for example, the post office, the arsenals, mints, hydraulic power plants, like the one proposed on the Yangtze River, and the trunk lines of railroads. These should not be operated by private enterprise, but all other industries will be opened to foreign capital. The government will enter only into those fields which are too big to be handled by private enterprise, or which by their nature should be operated by the government. But thinking far-seeing Chinese know that the industrialization of China will require not only unbelievable sums of money, not only skilled men, and not only modern machinery. It will require that other problems be solved, stable government, stable currency. It will require that millions of Chinese for years adjusted to an agricultural economy are adjusted to an industrial economy. For generations before the war, all my people farmed the land. This is a typical Chinese peasant. My brothers went to the war, and I went to work in a guerrilla cooperative industry. He learned his trade as a loyal Chinese behind the Japanese lands. I helped to make machine guns. My wife helped to spin yarn for army blankets. She kept the baby with her all the time she worked. There was no one else to care for him. When the Japanese came, we moved our cooperative through their lines. I never saw my wife or our baby again. In the small industrial cooperatives, this Chinese learned not only how to operate machinery, but he also learned many principles of mechanics. And when he was moved into a larger industrial unit, he was quickly able to do what was expected of him. And the peasant became an urban worker. It is this peasant, the millions like him, that we must look to. What about his education? If we are to have a democratic government, we must not only educate our peasants, but their children. And this will require almost as big an educational organization as the Chinese army. Yes, it would mean that millions like him will have left the land, will never go back to it. And millions more who have not yet left will have to go into industry. Yes, it means that and even more. The key man in this industrial development is the Chinese who yesterday was a peasant. In a manner of speaking, a new world is being created around the peasant. Yes, and it will not only make for a better world, but this industrialization will raise the standard of living of the average Chinese and will help maintain peace and order all over the world. With the industrialization of China, the way of living will be changed for the millions of China's people. In the hills and valleys of free China today, the wheels of industry roar. This is one of China's new power plants, electricity for the people. This is one of China's new blast furnaces, iron and steel for the people. This is one of China's new coal mines, fewer for the comfort and the industry of the people. This is one of China's new railroads, transportation for the people. Industrialization for China, yes, but only the first steps have been taken. How long will it take to industrialize China? How long? It took the United States 150 years to develop into an industrial nation. It took Japan 75 years. It took Soviet Russia 25 years. How long it will take China? No man knows. But we have made our plans. We have made them well. And we have committed ourselves to see them through. One day the wheels of China's industry will echo round the world. China has set her foot on the path toward industrialization to tell the significance of this tremendously important movement, not only to the Chinese, but to the world. A national broadcasting company presents his excellency, the Chinese ambassador to the United States. The next voice you hear will be that of Dr. Wei Taoming. We take you now to San Francisco. Since July 7th, 1937, when China began her all-out struggle against Japanese aggression, she has followed a two-fold policy of resistance and reconstruction. What do these watchwords really mean? They mean that we are fighting to preserve the basic values of civilization and peace. And that we are building to fulfill the purposes of our national revolution for political democracy and economic welfare of the people. China was just entering the stage of her reconstruction when war came. We had litter of the industries necessary to wage a modern war. We had to build and to fight at the same time. Our main efforts had to be directed to us the war, but they were handicapped by the war itself. Indeed, for almost eight years, it was only with supreme courage and enduring faith that we carried on the struggle. As the full strength of the Allies can now be brought against Japan, victory in the Pacific will not be far distant. When peace comes, we shall be able to concentrate on our original program for the economic welfare of the people. This has been repeatedly declared by President Jiang Kaishik as a fundamental policy of the government. To achieve this goal, our greatest effort will naturally be directed to us the interests of the farmers, who constitute more than 80% of the population. Their problem lies basically in the insufficiency of land for cultivation, which cannot be solved simply by agrarian reform or scientific improvement of forming methods. In America, you have about 157 acres for each farmer, while the average Chinese farmer has less than four. You can imagine their difficulties. With the development of communication and irrigation, we may add more to this figure, but of our increase were before from sufficient to allow a decent living to each farmer. To solve this problem, it is necessary for us to develop industry which would absorb an important part of the rural population, thus leaving more land to those who remain informing. In this way, not only will the economic welfare of the farmer be promoted through industrialization, but the standard of living of the average citizen will also be raised. As the execution of this plan gets underway in a country of 450 million people, we can easily understand its significance to the world. In the process of industrialization, China will be an expanding market for the capital goods and surplus products of other countries. And as the machine began to hum throughout the land, the buying power of the people will rapidly increase, and the fall of trade with other nations will rise too as yet unimagined highs which will constitute one of the great flows of commerce in the world. The United Nations are looking ahead to all the peace and a better world. A better world cannot mean otherwise than people living under better conditions. On this shrinking earth, we're coming to perceive more and more the economic interdependence of nations. No one can really prosper unless others also prosper. Only when there is prosperity of all peoples can we hope to strengthen the foundations for a lasting peace. Thank you, Dr. Wei Taoming. You have been listening through the Pacific Store, presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations as a public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross currents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send 10 cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. To repeat, for a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send 10 cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. It's written and directed by Arnold Marquess. The original musical score was composed and directed by Thomas Paluso, your narrator, Gain Whitman. This program came to you from San Francisco and Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.