"There are three distinct revolutions of the utmost importance going on in china today," declared the Right Reverend Logan Herbert Roots '91, Bishop of Hankow, yesterday. The statement was made in the first of his series of lectures on "The Present Situation in China", which are being given on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons of this week at 4 o'clock in Reed Hall of the Episcopal Theological School, Brattle street. The lectures are open to the public.

By way of forming a background for the study of the "unchanging East", Bishop Roots gave a brief resume of the enormous size, the vast population, and the stable political history of China. He told of the invasion of the Manchus in the 17th century, and the establishment of the Manchu dynasty and hereditary class which have just been overthrown after 300 years of power.

The first of the three revolutions of today, to which the Bishop referred, is the Political Revolution. The overthrow of the Empire in 1911 and 1912 marked the end of a system of government that had existed from time immemorial. China, he declared, is now in a stage comparable to that of the United States in the dark years between the surrender of Cornwallis and the signing of the Constitution. But where America had 13 colonies with a population of two millions, China has 22 provinces, each the size of an European kingdom, with a population one quarter of the earth's total numbers, or some 400 millions. Moreover, continued Bishop Roots, she has no background of political experience and tradition, such as we inherited from England. The Chinese Republic is here to stay, but there is much still to be done in organizing the government, and in combatting the Red propaganda which pours in from communist Russia.

The second type of Revolution, declared the Bishop, is the Industrial Revolution, which China is now experiencing. The problems connected with the adoption of modern machinery are much the same as in the period of the English Industrial Revolution. Western commercialism has caused a rise in prices, and has introduced the problems of trade organization, child labor, and sanitation. The Standard Oil Company has a very efficient organization, whose means of communication with the interior are superior to those of the government.

New Learning Overrunning China

"Perhaps the most dramatic and significant revolution," said Bishop Roots, "is the Educational Revolution. New learning is struggling with the old civilization. The dyke of conservatism and opposition to the new learning is breaking, and the new learning is overrunning China. The University of Peking, a government institution, is the leading power in the new movement."

"What can we Americans do to help China?" asked Bishop Roots in conclusion. "The greatest contribution America can make is, not through the printed page primarily, but by the influence of our example upon Chinese students over here, and by the influence of the representatives of our civilization in China, our missionaries, business men, and diplomats. Today America is the welcome nation in China: tomorrow China will be on her own feet, a powerful influence for better or for worse."