Book Review: Far East: A Man Must Choose
| Published date | 01 March 1964 |
| Author | Frederick Nossal |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900138 |
| Date | 01 March 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
118
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
in
China, and he
knocks
down
the
persistent
myth
that
the
Peking
regime
is
in
danger
of
collapse.
Nobody
dreams
of
challenging
the
Party
for
State
power
partly
because
most
people
are
simply
too
exhausted
by
the
overwhelming
demands
of
daily
routine.
The
balance
between
permanent
changes
in
the
thinking
of
the
Chinese
and
the
sheer
mental
immobility
caused
by
the
punishing
hours
of
work
cannot
yet
be
determined, he
warns.
His
conclusion
is
that
ruthless
devotion
to
purpose has
achieved
re-
markable
revolutionary
goals
in
China.
"There
is
no
assurance
that
ruthlessness
may
not
become
magnified
and
increasingly
violent
but
the
uneasy
possibility
exsts
that
nothing
short
of
enforced
motivation
can
bring the
changes
required
by
China
in its quest
for
modernity."
Drastic
ways
are
needed
to
attack
such
problems as
capital
construction,
population control
and
national
unification:
"There
is
certainly
no
assurance
that
other
previous
alternatives
to
Communist
leadership
would
have
been
more
humane."
Toronto
FREDERICK
NoSSAL
A
MAN
MusT
CHoosE.
The
Dilemma
of
a
Chinese
Patriot.
By
Eric
Chou.
1963.
(London:
Toronto:
Longmans.
vii,
215pp.
$5.50)
When
assessing
conditions
in
China
it
is
vital to
remember
the
numerous perspectives
of
the
land.
Nothing
could be
more dangerous
than
to
make
vague
generalizations about
food
supplies
and
living
conditions,
simply because even
the
leaders
in
Peking
are
never
quite
sure
as
to
what
is
happening
across
their
vast
domain.
Nor
can
one
be
very
precise
about
China
because,
on
the
whole,
it
is
a
closed
society,
virtually
sealed
off
from
the
rest
of
mankind
by
the
dogmatism
of
the
Chinese
Communist
Party.
And
this
is
why
the
personal
experience
of
the
few
people
who
have
been
in
China,
for
longer
or
shorter
periods,
is
the
most
reliable
measure
available
of
how
the
nation
functions.
The
various broad
pictures
of China
are
there,
certainly,
for
those
who
wish
to
view
the
nation
from
various aspects.
To
the
Westerner,
China
today
is
a
somewhat
puzzling,
perhaps
frightening
society-if
only
because
its
leaders
are
preaching
such
extreme
political doctrines.
But
to
the
fanatic
revolutionary,
Peking
has
become
the
world's
most
important
centre
of orthodox
Marxism.
He
sees
Mao
Tse-tung
as
a
genius
whose
thinking
could
transform
the
face
of
the
earth.
To
the
Asian
lands hugging
the frontiers
of
China,
it
is
no
longer
a
nation
of
hungry,
faceless
masses,
no
longer
a
land
torn
by
civil
war
and
plun-
dered
by
a
greedy
few-but
a
people
to
be
respected
and
wooed
in
order
to ensure
good
neighbourly
relations.
To
Eric
Chou,
a
patriot
with
a
love
for
his
native
land
and
for
his
people,
China
is
a
place
from
which
he will
be
trying
to
escape
for
the
rest
of his
days.
The
Chinese
Communist
Party
betrayed
the
confidence
Mr.
Chou
had
in
its
aims
and
policies
before
the actual
take-over in
1949,
and
for
a
few
years
afterwards.
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