Refugees Rush to Get Away from Shanghai

Grey River Argus, 13 November 1948, Page 5

Refugees Rush to Get Away from Shanghai

NANKING, Nov. 11. I, Thousands of refugees to-day poured out of Shanghai, partly as a result of the war situation and partly because of the food shortage. Following the proclamation of martial law there was a fresh rush on the airline and shipping companies by foreign non-essential personnel and wealthy Chinese. Four persons were trampled to death in the rush for tickets Hungry soldiers, dumped into North China after the collapse of Manchuria went on a wild “grab anything spree in Hientsin to-day, causing many shops and restaurants to suspend business. Soldiers raider the , restaurants and small shops in an ; effort to obtain merchandise to sell to obtain money for food. One street hawker was killed. Hong Kong, for the second time in less than 20 years, may again become a haven for Britons in troubled China as the civil war spreads towards the Yangtse, and plans have been speeded up for the possible evacuation of the non-essential Britons from Shanghai. When the Japanese forces attacked Shanghai in 1941, British women and children were evacuated to Hong Kong. The possibility of another

evacuation sets the Hong Kong Government a grave problem of accommodating more than 1000 in the colony, which is already overcrowded with nearly 2,000,000 people. COMMUNIST ADVANCE The vanguard of General Limpao’s Communist Army has crossed the Great Wall in its westward advance, making th e military situation in Hopei, Jehol, Chahar and Suiyuan provinces serious. Nationalist forces to-day completed their sea evacuation of Hulutao, the last foothold in north-eastern China. i