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Chinese Students in Great Britain
been a great fall in rubber and tin, the staple commodities of Malaya.
In the matter of board and lodgings, there is also much to be desired. A few students, who have guardians, live with them and thus have the home life of that particular family. The great majority, however, have to find lodgings for themselves, the more wealthy in flats in St. John's Wood or Maida Vale, and the less wealthy in rooms in Bloomsbury or Clapham. Then, many have more difficulty in adapting themselves to English food than to the English climate. But most have to put up with both of these horrors, as for the sake of convenience and economy lunch has usually to be taken at the school or college, and dinner in the lodgings, which are often very far away from the neighbourhood of the Chinese restaurants. In spite of this, many can be seen each evening in the restaurants, which would not exist without them!
I think there would be many more Chinese students in Great Britain, if admission into universities and schools, and into firms and factories, was less difficult than it is. Compared to other countries, admission is very difficult indeed. As regards universities, lack of a knowledge of English is sometimes the cause of the difficulty, but the actual fewness of vacancies, especially at Oxford and Cambridge, accentuated by the absence of letters of intro- duction, is the root of the difficulty in most cases. Un- fortunately the relative rarity of British to American and Japanese degrees in China makes the demand for them greater, so that in many cases the disappointment is made all the keener. As regards admission to factories and firms for practical experience—a very necessary part of technical training there has been considerable reluctance on the part of the companies and firms to admit Chinese students. In this respect British firms are far behind American firms, who take the long view that Chinese students trained by them will mean purchase of machinery or goods learnt from them, and events have certainly borne them out in this
Chinese Students in Great Britain
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policy. I have been assured that it is not because Chinese students are undesirable elements that there is this difficulty of admission, because the firms, and the universities too, themselves say that Chinese students, unlike some other foreign students, invariably mix extraordinarily well with their colleagues. I am told there is considerable trouble with the workers' trades unions, while another factor, which omits the long view, is that Chinese students will learn about their machinery, so that on their return they will use this knowledge to compete against them. Well, these are some of the difficulties facing Chinese students; let us leave them now, and review briefly the activities which. they have undertaken among
themselves.
ACTIVITIES
Inevitably, wherever a group of Chinese students gathers, a small society has been formed, and where the numbers have not fallen, has invariably flourished, so that now there are local societies in Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Man- chester and London, and these local societies are united in the Central Union of Chinese Students. Fortunately, un- like some unions in France and the United States, ours in this country are non-political, but are, first and foremost, social and intellectual. I shall not say more in passing than that the unions are so organized that the local societies plan the activities during term time-viz., weekly social gatherings, etc.-while the Central Union undertakes the general activities-viz., a week's conference in the summer and an annual luncheon on October 10 (our National Day)— maintains a clubroom and library, publishes a magazine in Chinese and a yearbook in English, keeps a Directory of Chinese students and has a Social Secretary who helps students with lodgings and admission to colleges; while it should not be overlooked that considerable time and work are expended on the requests for Chinese lecturers and teachers and with the several general invitations to Chinese students for which the Union acts as a medium.
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