The Soong Sisters by Emily Hahn

Author:Emily Hahn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 1940-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XVII

Eling Gets a Taste of Public Life

In may 1931 the group of dissatisfied leaders in Canton interrupted the people’s convention that was being held at Nanking with a telegram of denunciation. Sun Fo showed that he was in sympathy with the critics by walking out. Kwangtung announced that its differences with Kwangsi were patched up, which meant that the South was united again, and against the Government. It looked very much like another civil war; but Chiang did his best to avert it.

Before the month was out the Southerners had demanded his resignation, and when he paid no attention to their ultimatum they set up a Cantonese Central Executive Committee, and then a government of their own. Chiang still tried to avoid war. This time it would be more than a mere punitive expedition; so many of his erstwhile friends were on the other side, and the nation had been so weakened by the constant fighting of the past four years, that it would have been madness, considering China’s situation from an international standpoint, to embark on a serious civil war. The ugliest part of it was that Canton was flirting with Japan.

Still, when on August fifth the Kwangsi troops actually began marching upon Nanking, there was nothing for it but to get ready to fight. It is difficult to suppose what might have been the outcome, since the strengths of the opponents were fairly equal, if Japan had not chosen that moment to move into Manchuria. The “Mukden Incident” on September eighteenth, 1931, was the first development.

That night the railway near Mukden was blown up, and the Japanese, alleging that it was done by Chinese and that it was their duty to maintain order in Manchuria, as they had stated before, hurried to send troops in. It was a most obviously trumped-up excuse; many students of the matter have since shown with plenty of proof that the original explosion was arranged to give Japan this opportunity while Chiang was busy in the South. As such things go, however, it may be even more illuminating to see what a Japanese has to say about it; Mr S. Akimoto, in his Manchuria Scene, writes:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.