Evening star., 1925-06-09
DIAGNOSIS OF CASE
OF WAR-FEVERED CHINA
Tuan's Conference Fails-His Brave But
Futile Struggle-Will Chang and Feng
Combine Politically or Clash With
Their Armies?- Soviet Russia
Plots to Dominate China.

diers turned bandits, the poor people
are in a constant state of terror.
Whole towns are wiped out and hun
dreds homeless and starving. Looting
and kidnapping are everyday per-
formances Gen. Hu Ching-yi, who
was supposed to be responsible for
this province, had his own little
warfare with Kan Yu-kun, who put
up a determined defense, though re-
ported as decisively beaten many
times Last week Hu Ching-yi died of
poisoning and three days later Kan
Yukun was reported a suicide. The
death of Kan has not been verified
The loss Of these leaders has not
stopped the fighting. Bandits always
follow armies, as jackals follow wolves
And soldiers sent to repress bandits
often sell them their arms or join
their ranks, as being more profitable
than an effort to collect the back pay
due them from their generals. Prac-
tically the same conditions exist
across the border of Honan in Shensi;
and Szechwuan is being clawed over
by six self-seeking generals. of whom
Yang Sen is now the most powerful
Human is also overrun with bandits
and soldiers and has always been the
scene of political disturbances. Yunnan
is under arms-a huge army having
been raised by the war lord Tang Chi
yao, who aspires to succeed Sun Yat-
sen as generalissimo of the Kuomin-
tang. Our province of Hupeh is the
only one in this section which is really
prosperous. And the result is that all
of the victorious and ambitious war
lords are gazing at us covetously.
Tuan's Brave But Futile Struggle
There is no doubt that the provi-
sional chief executive, Tuan Chi-jui
is doing the very best that he can.
He is begging the military to lay aside
all personal self1shness and unite for
the good of China; he is issuing man.
dates ordering all fighting and re
cruiting to cease. And nobody is pay
ing the slightest attention to him
Each war lord is making his own
plans and feathering his own nest
and fighting and recruiting are still
the popular national pastimes. 1t is
estimated that ii will take about &c
years for China to build up a solid
government, but many who comment
on the situation see no grounds for
this optimistic representation.
1t is universally conceded that
China Is in a worse condition now
than before the revolution in 1911. If
the present state is convalescence
20 years are as nothing compared
to the thousands that have gone be
fore, provided that a real recovery
can be effected. But The poison OF
Jealousy and greed has so perme.
ated the system as to make recovery
doubtful.
Famine in KweicfOw and Shensi.
From Kweichow and Shensi come
pitiful tales of famine: of starving
people existing on chaff, which sells
for twice the price of good grain in
normal times, and on the ground up
bark of trees. The famine is due tc
drought, with severe hailstorms in
several districts, and to the activity
or bandits and the use of some OF
the best irrigable land for opium
growing. In most cases the people do
not want to grow opium, as the profit
on 1t is small, but they are forced by
the military, who collect a huge tax
on the land thus used, and on the sale
and export of the drug.
Suns Funeral as Soviet Propaganda.
And on the same page with these
heartbreaking tales of dire need. with
appeals for aid to avert extermina
ton of whole villages are stories OF
the handsome funerals given to the
oead generals who are directly re
sponsible for more misery and de
struction than famine. flood q,
drought The Christian" bolshevist
sun fat-sen, was accorded a funeral
In Peking reported to cost $29O. 900
with food for the mourners esti
mated at $4,000 a day The last
modest request of this self-styled lead
er OF the people was a coffin OF
crystal and bronze like that of his
ADMIRED friend Lenin, and a grave
on Thunder Mountain in Nanking. II
is significant fact which should sound
a note OF warning to the followers OF
Sun Yat-sen that when the "crystal
and bronze" coffin arrived, it was
found to be glass and tin, and utterly
unfit for use. -
The question is, was this a CHASTITY
Dit of humor on the part of the
Soviet or did they hope to deceive the
Chinese with a bit of superficial
spiendor. which rubbed off en- route
from Russia? At any rate, money Is
still being lavished on memorial serv
ices for Sun Yat-Sen, which are moth.
ing more or less than brazen propa
ganda for bolshevism, as sponsored
by the kuomintang (Sun Yat- Sens
pal W. II 10 TuIIlOTeQ that $500 600
has been promised by the Soviet for
in the Wu-han cities
tHankow. Wuchang and Hanyang) of
which 100000 has already been Maid
This means that we shall be treated
to series of strikes and probably
anti-foreign and anti-Christian demon.
strations. The general who died from
poisoning, variously reported to be
que to boil or to q murderol1s dose
given by one of his servants. Hu
Ching-Yi, is to have a $4,000 funeral
Truly, only the dead are great in
China.
New War i'm Swechuan.
After several months of compara
tive peace in Swechuan, war has
again broken out. Yang Sen, who
seems to have worked up a fairly
good reputation by his efforts to inn.
prove the condition of the people and
the towns over which he has control
has overreached himself a bit in his
eHorts to get money and has reused
the envy and enmity of all the other
Swechuan generals so they are pre-
pairing to fall upon him en- masse
He is undoubtedly the strongest OF
them all, but whether he is stronger
than all of them together is another
question. At any rate, we shall have
some big headlines in the papers for