THE CHINESE UPHEAVAL

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1927, Page 4

THE CHINESE UPHEAVAL

■FORMER ALLIES BLAAIED. SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. ?. Secretary of State Kellogg’s plea lor complete recognition of China as an autonomous nation was regarded as an insincere gesture by Dr Frederick Starr, retired professor of anthropology in the University of Chicago who arrived in San Francisco after his twelfth expedition to the Orient. Dr Starr discussed present conditions in China, and said:— “No other force, not even Bolshevism, is as directly responsible lor tho chaos in China to-day as her former allies during the AYorid War. China was drawn into the war by the Allies on promises that she had every right to believe sincere. At the end oi the war these promises were not fulfilled. The drawing of China into the war made a great rift in the country. It is mainly these two factions that have been fighting ever since. China is within her rights, and should ho allowed to work out her destiny.” RAIN* BAULKED RIOTERS.

Refugees who arrived in Seattle on the liner President Grant told how rain ended the rioting and pillaging at Hankow, where the British Concession was seized recently in a flare-up of Chinese Nationalists. Flow she was marooned with her husband and eleven-year-old soil lor three days on the third floor of a bank building while enraged Chinese revolutionists sacked tho town, was told by Airs Hunter Alann, one of the three refugees. She was on route with her soil to the home of relatives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she plans to stay until China’s internal dissension abates. “Tho roaring of the mob was incessant,” she related. “They filled the Bund, the waterlront street in Hankow. as far as we could see. Imprisoned as we were we could look down oil the beads of tbe mob, and it was not a pretty sight. Alost of the rioters carried no weapons except long bamboo pikes, oil which they fastened their loot. To add to anxiety was the news that two Germans had been killed by the mob. ‘•Curiously enough, the pillaging natives fled when it began to rain, and that was how we got away. Alv husband tried to escape once before, but was stopped by a Chinese soldier at tbe entrance ot the building. “A rainstorm left the streets deal. and we hurried oh to a small Japanese .steamer.” Another report from Hongkong stated that the present strife in China arose as a determined eiiort on the part of China to put her house in order and to regain her lost prestige abroad. It was stated that the poli(iral party which claimed to have started this movement was tbe Kuoliiintang, of which flic late Dr Sun Ant Sen was the founder. Kuomintang means Nationalist party. After it had strengthened its foothold on two provinces in the south, the administrative organ assumed the name of “Nationalist Government,” and has now spread its power over more than a third of fihfna. Tho Nationalists are lot ten called Cantonese, because many of the leaders are Cantonese, and because (.heir main field of activity long was centred in Canton. VIVID STORY.

One of the most thrilling stories to come from the Chinese battle front was that sent to San Francisco by Captain Ariel L. Yarges. who is a camera man in the employ of an American newspaper syndicate. lie succeeded in penetrating the rebellion-infested interior of China, where he made the first motion and still pictures iol' the International News reel. Alter having visited Honan, Captain Yarges continued north to Shantung Province and sent his pictures and the accompanying story from Tsinanfu, Shantung. where he is with the staff of TsungChang, field commander of the I'engtien An-Kue forces. In the course of his story he says: “I have just visited Chengchow, in Honan Province, a typical Chinese oitv that has suddenly been tenanted with thousands of newly-recruited troops ol the army of the North, who are billeted in the homes of the people. The few hotels have been commandeered and factories are used as barracks. The coming of tTio army lias thrown the town into a panic. “Chengchow was selected as AVu f’ci-Fu's base of operation because it offers security and an avenue of escape if Wu experiences further treachery from his staff at the front. Treachery and money play a big part in the operations ot this army. The actual front is 4f)o miles awav from Cliengehows, a most absorb distance for successful administration, considering .the poor facilities Chinese armies enjoy in tin' manner of communication. "The railway yards show all preparations for a quirk exodus in the event of a rout at the front. Ten fully-equip-ped trains, each of twenty ears, with engines attached, stand on the Clieng- . chow sidings all ready to leave (or ; Peking. Flat cars carry some of the motor transports saved from Hankow. PATHETIC SCENES. “Refugees from the war zone arc | scattered all the way from the battle front to Chengchow. The scenes are pathetic. Thousands of children and aged Chinese live m grass shelters, while orphaned ones seek refuge beneath the arches of the small bridges i across the sewer canals on the outskirts l of the city. Here these waifs of misfortune have blocked the ends of the i arches to protect themselves from the (wind, and have covered the slime of the sewers with broken stones. It is ' a cruel struggle for life. Their only

subsistence is the scraps of discarded food thrown out from the homes. “ft is seldom, that one witnesses the tragic fate of people dying by the hundreds from starvation and exposure at the very doors of others of their own race who display no pity. The feeling between the different fractions is hitter in the extreme. “Quite as pathetic as the exodus from the immediate vicinity of the war front beyond Chengchow is the mad flight to the' cities of thousands of refugees from the Ynngtse valley. With

a rabble army and a virtual prisoner in his yameii. Marshal Wu Pci-Eu is endeavouring to hold a. lino of defence against the advancing Cantonese menace from the South. Although insecure and far away from his allies’ line. Wu is making a desperate effort to bring order out of chaos and to prevent the advance of the conquering Cantonese. Wills power has waned, and whether lie will be able to keep his poorlv-fcd and youthful soldiers in lino is impossible to determine at present. •‘Wu’s men have displayed no enthusiasm to fight, which accounts for the quietness along the Honan front. I f my observation is correct, Marshal Wu has passed from the rotating picture as one of North China’s military dictators.’ ’