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University Daily Kansan Thursday, March 8. 1962
Snow: China Press Not American Type
Edgar Snow, foreign correspondent and writer on Communist China, said in a press conference with journalism students and faculty members yesterday afternoon that there is freedom of the press in Communist China but not the type that is recognized in America.
"It is different in theory," he said in referring to freedom of the press. He said the China press is completely controlled by the Communists and that all content in the papers is thoroughly checked before publication.
"By the Communists way of thinking there is freedom of the press. In 1957 there was an experiment known as the 'Hundred Flower.' This experiment encouraged people to write letters and essays to the press and to confess what they had on their minds." Mr. Snow said the press received many critical remarks and the experiment was dropped.
Mr. Snow said that illiteracy has always been a crucial problem in China. In past years it has been worse than it is today. There are approximately 700 million people living in China today. Of this there are 250 million or approximately 35 per cent of the people who are literate.
ASKED IF THERE is any likelihood of exchange of correspondents between the United States and China, Mr. Snow said:
"No, the Chinese are not in favor of this unless the United States settles the basic issues." Mr. Snow explained that he was admitted to China not as a correspondent, but as a writer.
Mr. Snow said that he went to China under approval of the State Department. "Nobody can go to China without approval from the State Department," he explained.
THE COMMUNIST China expert said that it is time for the American Press to wake up and print a few contradictory facts about the Cold War and the China embargo laws.
"For example," Mr. Snow said, "China is about to get membership in the United Nations and the American Press is going to oppose this up until the time it gets in."
Mr. Snow said that some of the Chinese publications are the main source of information used by Americans to find out about the Chinese. He said there are 100 men in China whose job is to translate these publications.
Asked how much penetration radio broadcasts have in Communist China and Russia, he said;
"I SAW MANY short-wave radios in hotels throughout China, but many of the broadcasts are in Chinese."
Edgar Snow
Massive Power—
(Continued from page 1)
slides of modern steel mills, factories, bridges, dams, and living complexes taken during his four-month tour in 1960.
IN REPLY TO AN AUDIENCE QUESTION AS TO whether or not he had seen only what the Communists had wanted him to see, he replied:
"No. Certainly I didn't. I visited communes in areas which I was familiar with and interviewed persons of my own choices. Almost without exception my itinerary was approved as I submitted it."
He contrasted present-day China with the China he was familiar with during his residence there in the 1930s. Snow said that during his 1960 tour he covered 10,000 miles in nine of the 14 provinces and saw no one starving. In the '30s he said it was common to see persons dying or already dead in the streets.
SNOW LISTED THE MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS that have been accomplished since the Communists took power in 1949.
- They have cleaned up the country and the people, preventing epidemics.
- Compulsory education has raised the level of literacy to 35 per cent of the population vs. 10 per cent in the past.
- A good foundation for basic industry has been laid. In 1960 Red China produced more machine tools than Great Britain.
- Vast electrical power plants have been built.
- The amount of land under irrigation has been doubled.
SNOW DISMISSED AS INACCURATE accounts that natural disasters have created starvation conditions. Hardships have resulted from flood and drought, he said, but not starvation.
Snow said the Communists have molded a unified and effective political unit in Red China. He said that there are 17 million members in the Communist Party and 25 million youth party members over the age of 12. A still greater number under the age of 12 belong to other party organizations.
During the course of his two-hour talk, the former Kansas Citian said that Red China's youth were particularly happy. He said the title of the favorite song literally translates "Socialism is Good."
He said that by 1990, Red China would have a population of one billion. While they will continue to have great difficulty in feeding their population, the country will rise as a major power once again, he said.
Action 'No Threat'
(Continued from page 1)
radically affect the present situation." Childers said.
Roger Wilson, Wichita junior and Greek vice president of Vox, said "Getting people to sign their names to a petition is one thing, but getting them to take an active part is another."
thing if it gets off the ground. It will be sort of a national NSA party."
"I have serious doubts that it will
Speaking on the "individual choice" which the group will use for membership rather than the block voting system now being used by the existing political parties, Grace said that it will be the thing which will kill the party. He described it as impractical.
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CHILDERS said that individual membership is not exclusive to the proposed party because the block system is used only for scholarship halls, fraternities, and sororites with the members of large dormitories and unorganized students having individual choice in their affiliation.
Harris said "I imagine that it will have little if any effect on the present block system. There are not enough students interested in campus politics to get enough membership."
SUA will sponsor a jazz session March 11 at 7 p.m. in the Big Eight Room of the Kansas Union. The session will feature jazz musicians from the campus.
Hardy said, "I don't think it is practical, but ideally much can be said about it. It won't work, however. It might have a chance if there were only one block voting political party on campus, but it will certainly not work with two active parties."
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Brian O'Heron, Lawrence senior, said, "Why not let the Greeks do this too? Why does there have to be separate questionnaires to the Greeks? If they are that interested they can come and give their grips. I don't think action based on these questionnaires will be worth anything. You already know what the result is going to be."
Meeks continued, "It will be easier to persuade the Chancellor to take a stand if we can prove by these questionnaires that the fraternities are really discriminating."
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Grace nodded in agreement.
CORDELL MEEKS, Kansas City sophomore and the only Negro member of the HRC, said. "You think it's wrong and I think it's wrong and the rest of us in this room probably think it's wrong. But if we went on one opinion we wouldn't be democratic."
GRACE SAID, "This is true. But anyone outside the Greek houses will be heard. They can appear and bring their comments to the meetings. If they are interested enough in the problem, really interested, they will come and say so."
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An unidentified Negro said, "You are talking around the real situation. You are trying to decide if this thing, discrimination, is wrong by asking the Greek houses what they think about it. This has already been decided. We don't even have to talk about it; discrimination is morally wrong. We know it's wrong."
'OHERON SAID, "Suppose the Greeks do not want the discriminatory clauses bothered, as will more likely than not happen? Then what?"
Grace answered, "We are only an investigative body. If a large group of Greeks are diametrically opposed to changing the discrimination clauses and on a trickle show any interest on the questionnaires of changing them, then this will be a factor in deciding what to do."
Charles Menghini, Pittsburgh senior and co-chairman of the Civil Rights Council was present for the first half of the meeting. He said more than one segment of the student population should be polled. "These are issues," he said, "that concern all students and all the students should be allowed to give their opinions on the subject, not just the Greeks."
THE QUESTIONNAIRE WILL ask the members of the houses about race and religious feelings and these questionnaires will be a factor in what action the HRC decides to propose, Grace said.
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From this point in the early minutes of the meeting, 14 persons attending the meeting debated various aspects of the questionnaire, charging that it may constitute a way in which the HRC could mix the problem up in procedure and "lose it."
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