South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 12 September 1942

Rotary Club

Mr. A. A. Thomson, well known author and essayist, was speaker at Tuesday’s meeting of Mexborough and District Rotary Club, at which the Vice-President, Rotarian S. C. Hacking, presided. Mr. Thomson’s subject was ” China is our Ally,” and he spoke fluently on this great Eastern nation now undergoing a renaissance under the guidance of a great leader, Marshal Chiang Hai I Shek. He contrasted the liberal and enlightened temperament of the Chinese with the treachery and arrogance of the Japanese, and suggested that in outlook the Chinese had a good deal in common with the British, setting  great store by reason and common sense and aiming at the “golden mean” in their standard of conduct. He concluded a broad outline of the history of the country with a description of the growth of the Republic following the collapse of the last of the imperial dynasties.

Under Chiang Kai Shek, whom the speaker classed as one of the really great leaders of modern times, he suggested that China was destined to play an important part in the struggle of the united nations and the creation of the brotherhood of freedom, which was the ultimate objective of the struggle.

Rotarian A. H. Wholton extended the thanks of the club to Mr. Thomson.