MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1943, Page 4

MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK

RECENT VISIT TO AMERICA. PRESSMAN'S INTERVIEW. Feeling like a camel who got through the eye of a needle the “Sydney Sun’s” representative participated in the Press conference given by Madame Chiang Kai-shek at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York recently. Madame’s entry was truly regal as, flanked by Chinese officials and stalwart G-men, she entered the salon while about 80 newspaper men and women stood in homage. Hard-bitten newspapermen were captivated by the brilliance and charm (as attractive in the Occident as in the Orient), by the rapier-like thrust of wit and the lovely smiles of the first lady of China. Exquisite in her fashionable turnout, her clear complexion like that of a girl, Madame proved herself mistress of thrust and parry. She wore a beautifully cut, close-fitting black frock of Chinese silk off-set by gold thread. When asked by a woman reporter if she could say how the Japanese women in China regarded matters, her eyes twinkled as she expressed the fear that she wasn’t in the confidence of the Japanese women. Asked what she thought of General MacArthur’s latest success and how she regarded operations in the Australian zone, she indicated —for direct quotation is forbidden —that success of any United Nations battle was a matter for rejoicing by all and that news of military operations was a matter for the military chiefs. But her subsequent remark left nobody in doubt of her belief that Japan must be defeated from the mainland of China. When Madame Chiang Kai-shek visited hex- old college (Wellesley), she strolled across the campus wearing elegant navy blue slacks. The president, Miss McAfee, sighed and said: “That ruins our anti-slacks campaign. We are now for slacks.”