We are entering a new era in which we can test confinement scale QCD in some well
chosen reactions such as  pi-pi and pi-N  scattering, pion properties, and
electromagnetic pion production from the nucleon. Based on the spontaneous breaking
of chiral symmetry, chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) is believed to approximate
confinement scale QCD as demonstrated by increasingly accurate  lattice
calculations, particularly in pi-pi scattering. Following a brief  review of this
field, emphasis will be given to recent, Increasingly accurate, experiments in
electromagnetic pion production experiments from the proton performed at Mainz and
JLab; these test ChPT calculations and their energy region of validity. The
connection between electromagnetic  pion production, pi-N scattering, and quark mass
effects will be presented.