Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-24
BY GIDEON A. LYON.

BY GIDEON A. LYON.
Announcement in the dispatches from
China that Marshal Chang Hsueh-
lang of Manchuria has entered Peking
at the head of a large army to estab-
liSh himself there for q while-perhaps
for a long while-as Rehabilitation
Commissioner of the North" title be-
slowed upon him by the Marking gov
eminent, brings to mind the picture OF
q slight, delicate-featured, quiet-voiced
young man standing in a large dining
room at the head of long banquet
table and speaking few words in Chi
nese to an assembly of American news
paper men and some Chinese and Man
churian guests. This was on the night
of the 14th of June, 1929, just 10 days
after the first anniversary of the bomb
ing of his father upon his entrance
into Mukden, in virtual flight from
Picking. AS a member of that group of
Americans, guests of China through the
courtesy of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, have been greatly
interested in the news about that soft
spoken young Manchu, and now that
ton of Importance and power at Pek-
understanding the newer spelling,
Peiping-it is with something of the
feeling of q personal acquaintance that
the daily reports Of his achievements
are read.
Chang Hsueh-liang-th middle part
of the name is pronounced much as If
it were spelled "Soo'-haS been play
ing a very shrewd game in the present
Chinese crisis. As Marshal of Man
-cl1uria, sort of governor general of
the three eastern provinces" constitute
ing that country, he has maintained
himself aloof from both the Marking
government and the newly set-up revo-
lutionary government at Picking, headed
by Yen Hsi-shan, the model governor"
of Shansi It has been evident that
Chang Hsueh-liang has been seeking to
establish the independence of Man
churia. Marking has not succeeded in
getting him to acknowledge more than
a friendly cooperative relationship to
what is geographically styled China
Proper"
Hints Of Secret Understanding.
Now that he is ensconced at Peking
as Rehabilitation Commissioner of the
North" there is much speculation re-
garding his relations with Yen Hsi-
shan, erstwhile leader of the coalition
resisting Marking and associate of
Gen. Feng Yu-hsiang, commander Of
the largest and best organized and
equipped of all the independent armies.
Hints are not lacking of a secret under
standing between Chang and Yen,
whereby the former will hold on at
Peking while Yen retires for recupera-
ton to his own province Of Shansi ad-
jacent to Chill, in which Picking is
located. Much depends upon whether
Feng Yu-hsiang escapes from the pin
GERS of President Chang Kai-shek, Ma
tionalist chief, with his army suffi-
GENTLY intact to enable him likewise to
retire for recuperation to make ready
for new campaign in the Spring.
There is an intriguing element in the
at Picking, in that Gen. Feng Yu-hsiang
is a bitter enemy of the scion of the
late Chang Tso-lin. It was Feng whose
forces. advancing upon Peking in June,
1928, drove the late dictator out of the
old northern capital, drove him back
to Mukden and to his death. To-day
Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang has no love
for Feng, although he is evidently on
excellent terms with Yen, Fengs COM
rade in revolution.
All this is but an example of the ter
rible tangle that marks Chinese politics.
There is no possibility of clear under
standing of the situation. The only
safe way for the Western observer to
estimate it is to discount every apparent
fact and to interpret all obvious con-
clusionS in reverse.
Night Of Vivid Impressions.
The night I met Chang Hsueh- lang
was one of many vivid impressions OF a
strange world. Just before nightfall we
had started out from our hotel in motor
cars to drive to the marshals yamen
in the old Manchu city. That old city
DC I'm cnI hi hi
around which the modern Mukden
spreads. The way into old Mukden was
like a labyrinthine puzzle. The motors
swung around corners, past towering
walls, into narrow passages, threading
through densely peopled streets, with a
hideouS clamor of horns and shouts
Then they turned into a courtyard
through another gate and halted. 1t was
| dark by that time, and We had gone
back into ancient Asia. Queer shapes
of structures doomed above us. Strange
ly CARRIED attendants guided us. Then
| suddenly We were aware of familiarly
/ clothed figures, khaki-uniformed and
highly buSinesslike-lookin soldiers
with arms in readiness An air of sus-
| picion pervaded the place. We had
| heard Of the killing only a few months
| before OF two OF the higher military
officers of the Manchurian army who
| nau come 10 JnS yamen 10 consult With
Chang Hsueh-liang slain perhaps right
| on the spot where we stood as We
| alighted from our motor cars. Nobody
knows TO this day-or at least nobody
tells-who slew them or why. Their
killing, however, Is thought to have hao
| to do with the drastic taking of OF
Chang Tso-lin, the young marShars
father and predecessor
The yamen OF Chang Hsueh-liang il
] furnished in the Western style. Tht
reception rooms are not particularly
elegant in their fittings. Indeed, Chi
nese taste in Western house equipment
leaves much to be desired. We wert
grouped in a smaller salon and asked
to wait while the marshal made ready
to receive us. We were told b,
Tommy Lee, the marshal's secretary
who speaks perfect English due to hi
attendance at no less than three Amer
lean universities-that the marshall
right arm had been famed BY the bit