GERMANS IN SHANGHAI
Snt,—An aspect of the refugee problem which is scarcely realised in England is the influx of German refugees into Shanghai. By reason of the present war in China, Shanghai is almost the sole place in the world where no visas and no permits are required, no funds have to be deposited, and no quota has to be kept to. It is a free city in contrast to the concentration camp, but it is not a city to a new life, it is a city to death, just as was the concentration camp. Now there is no exaggeration in that description. Death faces thousands of refugees in Shanghai ; there is no work for them, scarcely any money to feed them, the spectre of an empty future ahead, and a sub-tropical climate and tropical diseases to prey on them.
During one week, the last week of June, nearly 2,000 refugees from Germany arrived in Shanghai. That was a record, but at least another to,000 are expected before the end of the year, bringing the total to some 25,000. Now Shanghai also has some 23,000 Russian refugees, who have come steadily over 22 years, since 1917. Of these, thousands still live on the verge of starvation, though they came in a period of expanding activity, and many found good employment. But the Shanghai of today is another city, a third destroyed, isolated by war from the interior of China, forced to live to itself. Industry is uncertain, restrictions of all sorts exist, and the future is too vague to make any new enterprise of any size at all possible. It still supports some 8o,000 Chinese refugees in big camps, and into this city come 25,000 more refugees, all poor, all wanting work. They speak only their native tongue, and need considerable adapting to life in Shanghai. Very many are tradesmen and artisans, who cannot try to compete with the Chinese workers.
It is probable that of the present German refugee popula- tion of 15,000, some few hundreds have been absorbed, and can support themselves. Possibly a further one or two hundred have been granted loans by the Shanghai Relief Committee to enable them to set up in business—such are doctors, ac- countants, shopkeepers, tailors—and some of these are already being able to begin repaying the loans. The rest, some 90 per cent. or over, exist on charity. A ration has been worked out, and the cost of feeding comes to roughly 2d. a day—a monotonous diet, but sufficient to sustain life—based on Chinese foods. They live mainly in evacuated buildings, that is, buildings damaged and untenanted since the war hit Shanghai, and patched up by the refugees themselves. There is no money for boots or clothing. Medical attention is given by refugee doctors and nurses.
There is no future for them in Shanghai. When the war is over, some more may be absorbed, but in view of the Russian refugee experience, not many can hope for better luck. There has been some talk of settlement in West China, but that is scarcely possible except for a few. The only real solution is emigration to other countries. Shanghai is thus being thought of as a stopping place, not a permanent home. But so little can be done, as the impulse elsewhere is to assist those still in Germany, not those who have already gone abroad.
Shanghai is a heartrending city nowadays, but the European refugee is its most unhappy problem. In England this sum- mer I have been much impressed by the fine work done, and the individual attention given by the various relief organisations in this country. But to compare the problem of 40,000 refugees admitted io England's resources, and the 25,000 coming to a war-devastated city, only shows how terrifying a problem faces
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