Colonel G. R. Rice’s speech at the opening ceremony

“MAY I remind you, that the triangle is three-sided and it represents the trinity of the human personality — spirit, soul and body. This building has been put up with the express purpose of ministering to the threefold needs of the young men of Shanghai. There is the fine hall which is available for lectures and the like, and it is here that provision is made for meeting the spiritual and intellectual needs of Shanghai’s youth; and not only the youth, for it is the fervent hope of some of the older ones among us that we shall be invited to attend such addresses, and that the lecture hall of this building may be a center for the dissemination of all that is best for young and old…

Then what fine facilities are afforded for social intercourse! There is this side for which provision is required as well as the spiritual and intellectual side and I am sure that no place is better fitted for ministering in a healthy atmosphere to those necessities of a full-orbed existence than the building in which we now find ourselves.

Need I refer to the third side of the triangle? The comfort of the body has not been overlooked. Inspect the gymnasium, the swimming pool, the dining hall, the lounge, the living apartments, and see how admirably the needs of the body have been catered for.

There is one more point to which Gen. Wardrop wished to draw attention and that is the international character of the work of the YMCA. Although this particular building is specially for foreigners, I suppose we are aware that the YMCA carries on its work among all races and does all in its power to emphasize the brotherhood of man. There is a large work among the young men of China and the Chinese YMCA has done much to form a rallying point for those who have the real good of China at heart.

In this building, too, there will be given a common ground for foreign young men, not all of the same race, to meet and discuss questions which affect them. It will be possible during the social hour, over a cup of tea, for men of different nationalities to ventilate, in a friendly way, the problems that occupy their minds, and, as the different points of view are brought to light, and a man is enabled to see matters through the other man’s spectacles, definite progress will be made in the interest of humanity, for the more we know one another, the more we understand one another, the better able are we to see that there are two sides to every question and that all the right is not on our own side. International friendships, brought about through the agency of the YMCA and such institutions, have a real value, and it is our duty to do all in our power to assist in the carrying out of the command of the Mater—‘Love one another’.”