Evening star., 1938-04-24
Nine. Chang, Power in China,
Found CrO,un IN Dignity
Wife of GenernIissinO Much More Sure
of Herself, Woman Writer Learns
in IutervielU.

around the Hankow headquarters as
ever there was at the imperial court
OF "Old Buddha," the empress
dowager.
Was Staying With Sister.
Madame Chang was staying with
her sister, Madame Kung, at the lat
ter's home. Madame received me
with gracious dignity and charming
manners.
Madame Kung walks. acts, sits in
repose in typical Chinese manner.
She is credited with being the
shrewdest and cleverest business wom-
an in all China. With evident pride,
she spoke Of her own four children,
two handsome daughters, and one of
the sons, not general in the field
fighting the Japanese invaders, but at
the age of % already q director in
one Of the big government banks con-
trolled by his father. Her sister, she
remarked incidentally-or was it in
cidentally?-had no children.
Among conservative and old-fash-
ioned Chinese, from the lowest to
the highest, there Is no greater re-
proach to q woman, whatever her
rank, position or wealth, than that
she Is childless. That accounts for
the fact that Madame Chiang's name
and fame Is vastly greater throughout
the world than 1t is in China. Many
Chinese turns up his or her nose
at the mention of her name because
she has not given the generalissimo .
son. not even q daughter, notwith-
standing her great services to her
country.
Nine. Chang seeks none of the
glory for herself, she turns it all over
to her husband. Her self-imposed
role. or, one which she would prefer,
is more that Of an elusive shadow
the lady of the courtyard, pulling
strings in the background, q slender
finger in every pie.
Her extraordinary anxiety to build
up" the reputation Of her husband,
to withdraw in his favor whenever
credit Is due. tends to make one won
der whether the generalissimo is really
the strong man, the great man be il
claimed to be. Or whether she Is
fighting to maintain him on the ped
estal upon which the Chinese have
placed him, even to raise that pedestal,
since the fate of China depends upon
a leader. and that leader today could
never be . woman. :
The generalissimo is far from mod
ern-minded. Medieval Is q
term frequently applied to him.
know that Nine. Chang Kai-shek,
with her American background, has
often been obliged to crash through
tradition and precept, both Of diplo-
macy and war. Her deliberate and
methodical upbuilding of the hope Of
China suggests q motive more heroic
than mere wifely devotion. In that
she is great woman. One of her
foreign friends told me that the gen.
eralissimo always loses weight when
his wife leaves Hankow, and that he is
not happy or at ease until she re-
turns
win Not Become Slaves.
In our interview, Madame said the
things she would be expected to say.
She admitted there could be no peace
In the Far East without respect, friend
ship and certain amount Of eo-op-
Grafton between China and Japan.
But this must be on a mutual basis
of equality. not from Japanese efforts
to dominate China China's history
Is older than that of Japan. We can
not and will not become the slave
people Of Japan"
Madame Chang Is chary about
talking politics other than spirited
defiance to the Emperor of the East"
Despite her utmost efforts. and to
her great distress, the advice Of Gen.
Won Falkenhausen and his staff OF
German military experts, which in
cludes three other German generals,
against defending Shanghai and
Nanking, was ignored by Gen. Chang.
The latter's attitude was dictated in
part by desire to save his face" be-
fore other Chinese generals.
After those military blunders, which
revealed that the generalissimo Is no
military genius, there was danger that
the gtaff of German officers would
leave China Such blunders and de-
feats did harm to the prestige of Ger