FENG TAKEN PRISONER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 795, 16 October 1929, Page 9

FENG TAKEN PRISONER

CHINESE REBELS LOSE LEADER BUT WAR WILL GO ON (United Service) Reed. 10.35 a.m. SHANGHAI, Tuesday. The rebellion against Nanking has lost its leader. Marshal Feng YuHsiang, the so-calied Christian general, has been taken prisoner by General Yen Shi-Shan, who telegraphs from Taiyuanfu that he is holding Feng. Otherwise there are no details. The reports of Feng’s capture have not prevented the Kuominchun forces from marching in _ the direction of Nanking, Strong anti-Government forces are advancing on Hankow, where President Chiang Kai-Shek is reported to be proceeding, personally, to direct the Government forces.

With the capture of Marshal Feng Yu-Hsiang, an adventurous career may be cut short, though his punishment at the hands of the Nationalists can only be guessed. The “Christian general” has for years played a very shifty part in China’s civil wars. He has a name for deserting his allies in times of crisis, and in any fresh fighting no one could tell whose side he would take. The warfare now imminent was described as follows in a Shanghai message last Friday: Following 18 months of comparative peace, during which the Nationalist Government (alternatively termed the Sun regime) firmly established itself, securing control of the plums of office, the left wing of the Kuomintang has thrown down the gage for the purpose of wresting power from the Suij family. Feng Yu-Hsiang, heading the Kuominchun, has mobilised his forces and is advancing along the PeipingHankow railway with the objective of capturing Hankow, while the Nanking forces are preparing for the inevitable war, which, it is believed, will decisively settle the dispute between the two factions.