Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1941, The Far East, Volume V

811.42793/467

Memorandum by Mr. Willys R. Peck of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs, of a Conversation With the Chinese Ambassador (Hu Shih)⁷⁵

[Washington,] May 26, 1941.

Mr. Peck called on the Ambassador on another matter and in the course of the conversation mentioned that he had personally been considering whether something might not be done by the United States, in addition to sending supplies to encourage the Chinese people in their resistance to aggression. He said tentative projects had occurred to him under three heads:

1. The sending of lecturers equipped with projection apparatus and stills or motion pictures dealing with topics such as national defense and social betterment, that are problems confronting China and the United States alike. To these might be added pictures showing American engineering and other achievements, to arouse the interest and stimulate the imagination of the Chinese in these directions.

2. Providing Chinese educational institutions with laboratory equipment and books, not only as a measure of practical assistance, but also as an expression to those institutions in their present difficult circumstances of American sympathy and encouragement.

3. Sending prominent American educators to give short lecture courses in the leading colleges in “unoccupied” China.

Mr. Peck emphasized the fact that in detailing these ideas he was merely building an air castle and it still remained to be seen whether the schemes were in any degree at all capable of realization.⁷⁶ On this understanding he asked for the Ambassador’s comments.

The Ambassador said that he heartily agreed with the three plans Mr. Peck had suggested, but would offer the following comments.

He thought that instead of sending special lecturers equipped with projection apparatus and films, it might be preferable to create a “lending library” of films in the American Embassy in Chungking, the films to be loaned to Chinese institutions. If explanations of the films were necessary, it might be possible for one of the staff of the Embassy to give such explanations when the films were shown. He did not think it necessary to add Chinese “sound tracks”, since films with English captions would be understood by many and were generally self-explanatory. Chinese captions could be added, however, with advantage and at slight cost of trouble and money.

He said that he feared it would not be easy to send books in worthwhile amounts to the educational institutions in West China, because of the limited transportation facilities and the tremendous demand on such facilities. Laboratory equipment would be much less bulky and would undoubtedly be deeply appreciated.

He thought well of the idea of sending prominent American educators to give short lecture courses, but he urged that these men be carefully selected with a view to their being qualified. He observed that Chinese educational institutions were becoming critical in proportion as their scholastic standing improved.

The Ambassador observed in regard to the other side of the problem of promoting cultural relations between China and the United States, that is, the sending of Chinese students to the United States for education, that he did not favor a policy of restricting such students to the category of graduate and specialized students. He recalled that many Chinese who had studied in America and had returned to perform valuable work in China had come to this country as undergraduate students. The Ambassador observed that Chinese students, as a class, had achieved a high scholastic standard in the United States and he instanced several cases in support of this observation. He said that undergraduate students absorbed much more of the social culture of the United States than did specialists working in seminars in the hope of obtaining higher degrees.

75. Initialed by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton).
76. On September 22 the Chief and two Assistant Chiefs of the Division of Cultural Relations discussed with the Chinese Ambassador the problem and possibility of a definite program of cultural rapprochement between the United States and China (811.42793/484).