FOR the journalist who studies the flow of news on a thoughtful, long-range basis, nearly every week brings a new appreciation of sharp contrast in the pattern of events. Seldom has the sense of contrast been sharper than in two of the principal subjects dealt with in this issue of TIME.

One of these is a special section reporting in detail on an uncommon conference, of which Time Inc. was a major sponsor, held last week in New York City. Inspired by Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), the 1963 encyclical of the late Pope John XXIII, the conference brought together more than 1,500 philosophers, theologians, statesmen and diplomats of widely different backgrounds from all around the world. In what were idealistic and admittedly quite general terms, they discussed peace and how it might be attained.

There was a time of so-called thaw in the cold war, not many weeks ago, when such probing toward peace would have been considered the mainstream of the news. Last week, while the conferees talked of the rule of law and of order in the world, the top news was of chaos and of an enemy in Asia who growled that "peaceful coexistence is out of the question." It was to the hard issues of how to face that enemy that the editors turned for the lead story in THE NATION and the cover story in THE WORLD, our tenth cover* on Communist China and its leaders since they seized power in 1949.

As is almost always the case with stories about inaccessible Communist China, the facts about the country were gathered from hundreds of peripheral sources, ranging from professional China watchers who monitor the sounds and words coming out of the mainland to visitors who bring out firsthand information. This week's stories, however, focus more on an analysis of policy and on the factors involved in the fateful Red China-U.S. confrontation. While men of good will search earnestly and hopefully for a way to peace in the world, it is also critically necessary to face aggressive power squarely and examine the means for dealing with it. Pleased as we are to report that men are striving for pacem in terris, we chose this week's cover subject with the thought in mind that no one in the world should be confused about where the real danger to peace lies.

* In his cover painting, applying the principle of contrast, Boris Chaliapin used a Chou Dynasty (9th century B.C.) bronze tiger to symbolize China's military stance behind his portrait of the modern-dressed Foreign Minister Chen Yi.

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