The city of Chengtu has been laughingly described as the hub of the universe. On investigation the jest is found to contain a surprising amount of truth, This city of half-a-million people, seventeen hundred miles by river from the mouth of the great Yaugtze-kiang, and within sight of the foothills of Tibet, is capital of the province of Szechwan (larger in area than France), and at the heart of one of the most densely populated regions of this earth. More than half the population of the world is estimated to live within a circle drawn with Chengtu as its centre and a radius of 2,000 miles. One half of these, the Chinese, are one of the oldest nations in the world, and among its most highly cultured peoples. The others include most of the chief racial stocks, stocks that down through history have been in continual strife. The problems of the Pacific hold far greater dangers for the world than the national and racial animosities of Europe. Napoleon was right in saying that when China awoke she would move the world. And there is no gainsaying the fact that China is awakening.