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Show CHAPTER ONE Client mto Comment Even iu China, it is impossible to review the year 1914 without reference to the one event which in succeeding years will r'T-TTTMA Aivrr» m a ^ e it memorable. There used to be a god of _ , - _ ,_. . _ war. He is now legion, and these revised devils of THE WAR . _ . ° , war have affected our work 111 various ways. Commercially, China has suffered along with the rest of the world. Japan's entrance into the turmoil at Tsingtau, Shantung, has brought the fighting down to China's own soil. Following upon the conquest of Tsingtau have come the demands upon China, the issue of which is not yet certain, though it is the hope of all that Japau will rise to great heights in her dealings with China, and give back to China even the port of Tsingtau at the close of the present war. Meanwhile, the interest of our Chinese friends has been deep. The impression is still abroad in the interior, at least, that Germany is everywhere victorious, and it would seem that the sympathies of most people are with Germany, partly because of a well-conducted press campaign, and partly because of the increasing hostility to Japan, which brings as a natural corollary sympathy with her enemy. Most Chinese would undoubtedly prefer Germany to Japan in Tsingtau. Missionaries are continually asked : "Are there any Christians in the armies of these countries?" "Why do Christian nations fight ?" Iu Shantung, local crops of peanuts which have found an export market in years past are a drug on the market. In the building of the TECHOW hospital, glass has been found to have increased in price 300%, and beds and other supplies shipped just before the war began are interned in a Sicilian port. Drugs have also increased iu price, and photographic supplies are scarce. On the other hand, regular work goes on much as usual, and from Shansi it is reported that 110 unfavorable reaction has been felt. On the contrary, one of the missionaries says that he has never lived through a period of equal length when conditions for missionary work were better. Except in some few corners of the field, the |