geological
and mining experts, etc. The Government should, however, retain the
right (_a_) to buy out any mining concern at a fair valuation; (_b_) to
work minerals itself in cases where the private owners fail to do so, in
spite of expert opinion in favour of their being worked. These powers
should be widely exercised, and as soon as mining has reached the point
compatible with national security, the mines should be all nationalized,
except where, as at Tayeh, diplomatic agreements stand in the way. It is
clear that the Tayeh mines must be recovered by China as soon as
opportunity offers, but when or how that will be it is as yet impossible
to say. Of course I have been assuming an orderly government established
in China, but without that nothing vigorous can be done to repel foreign
aggression. This is a point to which, along with other general questions
connected with the industrializing of China, I shall return in my last
chapter.

It is said by Europeans who have business experience in China that the
Chinese are not good at managing large joint-stock companies, such as
modern industry requires. As everyone knows, they are proverbially
honest in business, in spite of the corruption of their politics. But
their successful businesses--so one gathers--do not usually extend
beyond a single family; and even they are apt to come to grief sooner or
later through nepotism. This is what Europeans say; I cannot speak from
my own knowledge. But I am convinced that modern education is very
quickly changing this state of affairs, which was connected with
Confucianism and the family ethic. Many Chinese have been trained in
business methods in America; there are Colleges of Commerce at Woosung
and other places; and the patriotism of Young China has led men of the
highest education to devote themselves to industrial development. The
Chinese are no doubt, by temperament and tradition, more suited to
commerce than to industry, but contact with the West is rapidly
introducing new aptitudes and a new mentality. There is, therefore,
every reason to expect, if political conditions are not too adverse,
that the industrial development of China will proceed rapidly throughout
the next few decades. It is of vital importance that that development
should be controlled by the Chinese rather than by foreign nations. But
that is part of the larger problem of the recovery of Chinese
independence, with which I shall deal in my last chapter.

FOO