 The Johnson-Wax program, Words at War with Clifton Padderman. The makers of Johnson's Wax for home and industry in cooperation with the Council on Books and War Time proudly presents Words at War, bringing you dramatizations of the most representative books to come out of this great world conflict. With us again to introduce our program is the well-known radio personality, author and critic, Clifton Padderman. Good evening. Tonight the spotlight of Words at War swings to the far east and falls upon that reawakening giant of the Orient, China, ancient nation whose modern destiny is the vital concern of us all. After Jack Cassello brings you a brief message from our sponsor, I'll tell you more about tonight's program. No program of better car maintenance is complete if it overlooks the paint job. Even if your car sits idle for days at a time, the finish needs looking after. Dirt and road grime cause deterioration if they're not removed, and a rough finish collects more dirt and grime. You can give your car a finish that's satin smooth, that sparkles like new, with the easy to use double purpose Johnson's car new. You may already know that car new both cleans and polishes in one application, but most people don't really appreciate how easy the job is until they try car new themselves on their own cars. Car new is a liquid polish. You rub it on, let it dry, wipe it off. Tie a string around your finger now as a reminder to buy a package of Johnson's car new, spelled C-A-R-N-U. Will you take it from here, Mr. Padderman? Thank you, Jack. Tonight we base our words at war on two new books. The first is Heaven Below by E. H. Clayton, which shows us China through the eyes of an American missionary and educator who lived there for 30 years. The second book is China Looks Forward, written by Sun Fou, whose father was Sun Yat-sen, founder and first president of the Chinese Republic. And together these books add up to a new and startling picture of China, combining the perspectives of an admiring foreigner and a sharply critical Chinese. Once we considered China none of our business, now we know that what happens in China today and tomorrow is the business of everybody in the world. Is China really a democracy? Is it possible for China to go fascist? What does China propose to do about Japan in the post-war world? Just what kind of people are these Chinese anyway? Let's get the answers. First, let's meet the common man of China through the eyes of E. H. Clayton, author of Heaven Below. We have come to live in Hangzhou, 120 miles from Shanghai, a city that is built on the shores of a lake three miles across. Against the background of wonderful hills and mountain peaks that provide some of the most beautiful sunsets in all the world, this is Heaven Below. We've come to teach at Weyland Academy here. We've established a family in a house which, although without the blessings of American planning, is moderately comfortable. We've engaged servants and...no, pardon me, someone at the door. Yes? Mr. Clayton, I am neighbor, Mr. Lee. Oh, how do you do? I've been intending to drop over and... One dollar fifty cents. I beg your pardon? One dollar fifty cents for red candles and incense. Yes, but look here, I didn't order red candles and incense. Mr. Clayton, you have chicken yam, also rooster. Yes, I have, but... Your rooster flies out of your...sit on top of my house. This is sign of great evil. It is necessary to burn that candle and incense to water evil. One dollar fifty cents. Oh, I see. Well, in that case, here. A dollar fifty cents. Thank you very much. Good day, Mr. Clayton. Well, just a minute, Mr. Lee. Yes? I am very glad to pay for the candles and incense this time, but I think I ought to tell you this. My rooster is a foreign rooster, and in my country, people do not consider it a sign of evil for a rooster to fly up and sit on a house. Oh, people most ignorant in your country. No, no, it's just that foreign roosters don't bring evil. So if my rooster flies up on the top of your house again, you'll have nothing to worry about. This could be so. I assure you it is true. I will tell neighbors of this, Mr. Clayton. Thank you, Mr. Lee. I keep one dollar fifty cents. Of course, you've already bought the candles and incense. Good day, Mr. Lee. Good day, Mr. Clayton. Anything can happen in China. Well, gradually we learned that our children were being called little foreign devils by the neighbors. As head of the house, I was Mr. Foreign Devil, and my wife was scarcely flattered to learn that she was commonly referred to as Old Foreign Hag. But our sense of humor certainly equals this, and it didn't lessen our growing affection for the people who were our neighbors. Wait a minute. What's that music? Let's have a look outside. Oh, recognize the tune? It'll be a hot time in the old town tonight. What's the occasion? Well, it happens to be a funeral for section. The local band leaders come into possession of some American sheet music and have selected hot time as an appropriate series. As I said before, anything can happen in China. Now I want to tell you about a dinner I attended. The Academy was giving a banquet for one of our colleagues this evening. We called into conversation with a Chinese teacher on our right. Professor Kai, is it the custom to give such lavish dinners whenever a member of the faculty leaves the school? Mr. Clayton, surely you understand the purpose of this banquet? Of course. Professor Ling has received a more attractive offer from another school. Mr. Clayton, Professor Ling is not leaving the school to accept a more attractive position. He is being dismissed. He hasn't another offer? None at all. Why this elaborate tribute to him? Mr. Clayton, in China nothing is more important than faith. One must save faith at all costs. If Professor Ling were to be called into the principal's office and gently told that he was being dismissed, he would lose faith. This way he saves faith. We all pretend and he pretends that he is resigning for something better. Oh, but nobody is actually fooled. Nobody is fooled. Well, perhaps I'll learn in time. I thought to Professor Ling, greatest of good fortune in his new post. Professor Ling. Good evening, Professor Kai. Oh, good evening, John. Mr. Clayton, a young friend of mine, Mr. John. How do you do, Mr. John? Mr. Clayton. Oh. Oh, you will father my glove? Of course, I'm sorry. You've injured your hands? Oh, no. No. But you wear... Of course. They have come all the way from America. Do you not admire them? They're very nice, I'm sure. Yes. You will excuse me. Professor Kai? Of course, John. Mr. Clayton, the meteor has been the great honor of my life. Thank you, thank you. Mr. Clayton? Professor Kai. A young man of promise, Mr. Clayton. Oh, oh, yes. Yes, of course. Professor Kai, you'll excuse me, but was that young man wearing rubber gloves or am I... Of course he was wearing rubber gloves. In Heaven's name, why? Oh, that is easily explained, Mr. Clayton. He wears them everywhere. You see, that young man is a student nurse in the hospital. He is provided with rubber gloves for his work. Oh, I see, but look here, Professor Kai, does he have to wear the rubber gloves to a banquet? Of course. Sorry, Professor, to be so dull, but why? Mr. Clayton, let me explain. To that young man, his rubber gloves are his emblem of office. If he did not wear them on all occasions, how would people know that he held a position of such importance? Is it necessary that they do know? It is important to that young man, Mr. Clayton. It is his way of preserving faith. Faith. Let's see. It tells to Professor Lin, long life, many children continue success in his new career. Oh, oh, oh. We'll take a stroll this morning along the streets of Hangchao, the model city of China. Oh, by the way, I just remembered an anecdote. It seems the generalissimo once came to Hangchao, our heaven below, and was disturbed by the condition of the streets. He went to the mayor and demanded that something be done at once to clean it up. The mayor called up the chief of police and soundly berated him. The chief of police had once called up his first assistant and announced him roundly. The assistant immediately called. But all I wanted to prove was this. The art of passing the buck is not an American invention. It's an old Chinese custom. Oh, wait, here's an interesting neighbor of ours, Mrs. Yun. Have a good day, Mrs. Yun. Good day, Mr. Clayton. And, uh, Mr. Yun? He's looking very well, Mrs. Yun. Yes, he has in good health. Well, it has been very nice seeing you, Mrs. Yun. Good day, Mr. Clayton. Come, Mr. Yun. Not much of interest for that meeting, hm? Except that Mrs. Yun's husband happened to be a pig. Oh, once he was a man, of course, but he died a sinner, and according to information given by Mrs. Yun, rather by the Buddhist, too, Mrs. Yun, he was reincarnated as a pig. Mrs. Yun, as a good wife, sure, is looking after him now. Pig that he is. Are you a muse? Aren't these naive, childlike, superstitious people? Yes, aren't they? Yet I saw these same people resist the Jap invaders that came to heaven below. Resist, is that the word? I saw them live for days and a mouthful of rice. I saw them bayonet it for no reason. I saw their women tied to the ground to await the pleasure of a new Jap regiment. I saw them starving, though they were fight the Jap like demons, fight with sticks and stones against machine gun and cannon, not for days, but for years. What manner of people are these? What paradox is this? Whose fault is it that ignorant, superstitious, poverty, starvation has been fastened upon them for years? It is our fault. It is the fault of ourselves, the Chinese. Yes, we pretend to have a democracy. We pretend to be the people's party. We, the party, represent less than 1% of the people. We do almost nothing to combat the mass ignorance of the people. We who fight dictatorship, we function as a dictatorship. Good heavens, who dares to speak like that? He'll be arrested. No, no, not he. But he's denouncing the Nationalist Party to generalize them on himself. Yes, he is a member of that party. He is closed, associated to the Generalissimo. He dares to speak that way, to blame China, to call the party a dictatorship? He is the only man in China who can dare to speak that way. He speaks his truth, and it's not a phase. He is the son of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the president of the Chinese Republic. He fears no one. That is Sun's fault. This is Christian Faderman speaking. Tonight on the Johnson-Wax program, Words at War, we are bringing you a dramatization based upon two important books about China. They're written by an American missionary and educator, E. H. Clayton, and China Looks Forward by Sun Fou, whose father was Sun Yat-sen, founder and first president of the Chinese Republic. We've been meeting the common people of China. A lovable people held fast in the grip of age-old superstition, ignorance, and poverty. Yet these are the people who have given the world a new concept of terrorism. What do they have that is worth fighting so desperately for? Who is to blame for their fight? We've heard Sun Fou fix the blame upon the Chinese leaders themselves. Heard him charge that China, which fights dictatorships, is itself a dictatorship.