Chinese Progress | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 1, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 13.

Chinese Progress.

Notwithstanding the fact that the United States has not yet recognized the republic of China, and that the great nations of the world are endeavoring to despoil her, she is still making progress. About five years ago she decided that opium smoking had become the national vice of China, and must stop, and that within ten years. Of course people smiled. But five years have passed, and final success even now seems to be assured. The agreement of five years ago between China and Great Britain was that all opium traffic would cease at the end of ten years. Great Britain was to cut down her importations 10 per cent each year, until the traffic had ceased; while China was to diminish her own production in a corresponding way. Travelers report that it is no longer common to see men smoking opium at their own doors. Even two years after the edict, those who smoked did so in secret. The agricultural map of China shows an actual reduction of 50 per cent in the production of opium. The example of the heathen nation may prove illuminating to some of the more civilized.