1938 sat jan 1 - hoover institution · kweichow – on gov’t. staff.) – quiet on am. attitude....

1938

Sat Jan 1: Got tickets. A.M. to office. At 6 P.M. went to ferry. (Pd. Jarvis $200.) Off at 8:40. – I got the upper & some sleep. Rainy. 30 hr. trip. Sun Jan 2: Poking along with Chü & Sun. At Yo 州 (Chou) many pings. – on ?沙界 (Sha Chieh) the 148x of the 50xx. 5 P.M. crossed the 汨羅儿 (Mi Luo Erh) (Yü Lo) where the Ch’u min drowned in whose memory we eat Tsungtze on May 5. Got to Ch’ang Sha at 9 P.M. Went to YMCA & horned in on 2 absentee beds. Mon Jan 3: Went to LIN SHIH TA HSUEH – Saw Dr. HUANG – Then to YA LI & saw Hutchins. Then saw Dr. Mei (Y.C.) (Ts’ing Hua). Then saw Chiang Mon Lin & Mrs. They sent us back in their car. Raw – cold – rainy. No one knows anything. New gov. O.K. – starting out for a million men. (2 sons out of 4). 3000 trained studes going out in the villages – presumably to preach Yu Chi Chan. Actually the boys will be conscripted. Old units being filled. 10th cut up at N. No news of whereabouts. Serious losses of material & – cue under control in Hunan. Provision for 80,000 wd. @ 5000 in Ch’ang Sha. Motors from N mostly gone W. Many under repair in streets. Gen. ignorance present front. Gen. determ. to fight. Gen. impr. japs will come here. No news of any tr. out of hand. Chiang says 2 mos. before the gov’t. straightens itself out & knows where it is. – Han will go to Honan. Hopeless outlook, but will fight on – nothing else to do. France afraid – closes the door in Indochina. Eng. afraid to even talk boldly. – Gen feeling that it’s not much use to run any further. – Chiang’s bldgs. being grabbed by mil. – Road to Yunnan being put into shape. – Gen. mess on all communications. – Busses W booked 3 mos. ahead. – 130,000 left Chang Sha – 160,000 came in. 3 Yunnan xx went to Nanch’ang. Ex. impression – well behaved – good soldiers. Tr. around here not yet in action. (ZUR gone to Kweichow – on gov’t. staff.) – Quiet on Am. attitude. Not much help expected, even from Russia. The 8 R.A. stuff not swallowed by intelligent people. CML came in his car & took us to gov’s. yamen. Got a date for 4:30. They sent a car. – Rain. FRICTION – 8 R.A. dope not allowed past censor. Their “gt. victory” stuff annoys the K.M.T. No love lost. 5 P.M. car came – to gov. yamen. – Saw CHANG CHIH CHUNG. A ringer for LI at the Old Friend. Would not talk much. – Says of course must build up a front & not go to Yu Chi Chau. – Good egg. – Simpatico. CKS will have his own men on Mil. Aff Com. – CML. Fêng will not have a command of troops. Ch’en Ch’un ts’ui, Shih Chia Chu, Hsieh Yu-lan & J.W.S. dinner 1/3/38 (14.00) Tues Jan 4: Out at 10 to Sandpiper. Painful stand up. – A dumb tank instr. there. “Yunnan tr. very well equipt, good-looking.” Will fire on jap planes if they attack junks. All TANK INSTRUCTORS HERE. FIVE GER. HERE. (Presumably all tanks here too.) SEE HSIUNG SHIH HUI in Nan Ch’ang – Central News Agency. Funeral with brass dragon 60’ long. – 2 heads, 2 tails, 6 segments – coffin riding him. (“Mount the dragon”.) White bonnets on dragon 5’ head. All the pole insignia in brass & copper. Solid & well done. Work up descr. of sounds made by Ch. gent while cleaning up in A.M. Gags like the gurgle in a gigantic bath tub being emptied. Scrape a steam shovel, etc. Lunch with Ch’en Ch’un-ts’ui, the Chiangs & a Mr. Wang at the Ch’i Ch’en Kô. Surprising & precious Food store.) Fine chow. Chiang tried to get me for chow at his house.) Air alarm. False. Dozed & went to RR sta. at 9:00. Bunked at the “Wagon Lits Hotel” opp sta. with a man on watch for train. “5:00 o’clock” – “5:30” “6:00” – “Still 20

Hoover Institution Archives: The Diaries of General Joseph W. Stilwell. Copyrighted Material 2012

Copyrighted Material 1 Copyrighted Material

mi. away” – Tuo tze” – Well, the battle was joined & we got on – & then got off again. What’s the use. – Went to bus station. – no service to Heng Yang. To other bus sta. “Sure,” bus to Nanch’ang. Wed Jan 5: So we waited for 36 hrs. for the chicken & pig train & then didn’t take it. Hankow bombed yesterday – 4th Jan. Back to YMCA & breakfast. – Hsieh says at Tu Hai he had to hire a girl so he could sleep. They came in one after another till he took one. – Had a nap. At 12:30 walked till 3. – Favorite FU2 here is the Kuan Hsien double-bird one. Some made with 5 bats. – Fine looking devil mask over a store. River activity – all sorts of stuff coming & going. Cotton out – coal & lumber in. Trucks crossing toward west. Natives not as insulting as usual. (Hsieh told the story about “I hear it’s good” when he was eating oat-meal. But he didn’t stop smacking his chops.) (Chinese frankness, the JUNK cigarette. – Scraping the white paint of the design off strips of blue material on river front. Another Jap imitation. Thurs Jan 6: Up at 5, & to bus station. Waited till daylight, off at 7:00. Diesel. Seats! Rode till noon, cold. Stop at Wan Tsai3 for good chow. Broke down @ 5 mi. out. Jammed into following bus. – Sardines. 6 P.M. Nanch’ang. Walked across long bridge, frozen to death. To Y.M.C.A. Good chow – orange soup, & to bed. Fri Jan 7: Cold. Sun out. Answer from the pill. – Saw W.R. Johnson – Aha! Now the Methodists want the U.S. to fight. Johnson knows nothing. One soldier hold-up in Ch’Sha Rd. All quiet here. Yunnan & Szechwan tr. to e. & n.e. – (Hsieh got dope that many tr, (200,000), are on the Nanch. – Chiu Chiang line). – Kiangsi plan – 6 men out of every pao-50-or on basis of 25 million pop. – 3 million! Very high, poss 1 mill. – High praise for gov – roads, adm, etc. (Johnson’s wild tale about wop who took 2 chinks & painted planes to resemble japs & dived into the battleship, which opened up its armor to let them in!) – No bus service east. – Refugees coming in. Trains to Chiu Chiang regularly. – Date with Hsiung Shih-hui at 4 P.M. (Modern home.) He’s a ringer for Doc. Hu. – Each pao has 500 people. They will take only as they need. After training, men go to divs. He says he won’t ever go west from here. “I’ll never leave”. Thinks farther japs go, worse off they are. Now have 500,000 men in China. Another 500,000 will not put them a step ahead. China is agric. – can’t hurt us. We can always eat. Japan must sell goods to live. Spoke of 3-4 yrs resistance. Does not expect japs to come here. Says comb. of Yu Chi Chan & Cheng Mien Chan Shih, but easy to see the idea of the Yu Chi Chan attracts all Chinese. How would I do it? (By making use of nos. & attacking – This did not go big. – It’s the guerrilla stuff that has them hypnotized. Asked about internatl. relations & chances of U.S. going to war. Also relations between Eng. & U.S. Opinion of Italy? N.G. etc. Agreed that japs might occupy RR net, but convinced that shih shih jen jen ch’a ch’a, would beat them. Of course it would, if they’d do it. Kiangsi tr. still in Wuhu area. 2A in Nanchang (1 man only) 1st Div. Wan Tsai3, 88th Div.?? Air raid to-day. – @ 9 planes – dropped about 20 bombs. – RR Sta. airfield, etc. C.I.M. people are Scotch. “We comfort them with the gospel message.” -- and W. R. Johnson “moves among the soldiers” keeping up morale.” Balls. Changed room, got a fire & went to bed. My left foot is swollen up like a cantaloupe with trench foot. Sat Jan 8: 10 A.M. train for Chiu Chiang Had a fire. – My trench feet gave me hell. Godened them this A.M. Bitter cold wind to station. Got in with 四川(Szechwan) 147xx Staff. Damn nice crowd – Going to 漢口(Han K’ou). They took us in 1st cl. comp & gave us what they had to



eat. Nicest crowd I’ve met in China. Got to Chiu Chiang at 4. Boat at 5!! We got right on. Changed from $6 room to $18 room. ($36 for 2.) A vile cold wind blowing down the Yangtze. Jesus, is it cold. – Hu’s est. of world sit. – Peace lovers vs. War lovers. – 1st mil. sit. 3 Parties – Democ. vs. Fascism. He had it doped out. All of them keen about internatl. affairs. – Been at LUKAN only 四川 (Szechwan) xx there. Nine others Teng Hsi Hou in Tai Yuan, 45th A. Yang Sen in Anhui N. of Yangtze. All divs. filling up. – All set on Yu chi chan. It appeals to the Chinese temperament. No jap tanks at Wuhu. (K’UA 子 (tzu) = routed) Sun Jan 9: Up at 1 A.M. to get some air in the Black Hole. Brisk bright morning. Arr. 9 A.M. Gangway blocked by btry. of art. – Sung & Yen have been here – gone back again. Bomb. raids not much. BATH & sat. Mon Jan 10: Jarvis laid up. Office in A.M. At 2 P.M. saw Yeh T’ing – Then over & saw Hsuan, (8th R.A.) – Good eggs. Office – codes – movie. Tues Jan 11: Ordered cards. Jarvis still sick. Chiang Mon Lin here. – Wu’s cocktail party. – (air raid, 24 bombers). Gens. WU, & LIU, Major CH’EN, of op. sec., giss. hqrs. & Adm. YANG, Min. KUO, T.T., (bro. of Kuo Tai Chi) Holt, Drofkin, Faye, etc. etc. Saw Mike Strogoff. – Terrible. Wed Jan 12: Office. – P.M. looked for Chiang M. L. unsuc. Movie. LETTER FROM WIN. Thurs Jan 13: Lunch on LUZON. Heavy, ketchuppy Indiana food with wall plaster lemon meringue sinkers for dessert. (Mayor Wu, Ad. Yang, Mr. Kuo.) Terrible. P.M. Maj. Ch’en came in. Got some dope on japs. Shied off on any Ch. troop questions. – Called on Chiang Mon-lin. Durdin called on me. Fri Jan 14: Called on Adm. Holt at noon. P.M. to off. at 4 P.M. – Movie. – Wee Golf. Durdin says Han bumped off. Sat Jan 15: False alarm. – 6:30 – Same 9:30 – nobody came – P.M. bummed around. Sun Jan 16: A.M. bummed. LUNCH – Whitamore, Marken, Jarvis & I & Josslyn. 5:30 “Adm. Charmer” – for Faye’s tea. Talked to Col. Liang (Fr. speaking). Caffarena, Blandeau, etc. The Fr. are O.K. Mon Jan 17: Rain. 3rd dream about Doot last night. – Lunch on Luzon (Jarrell) – P.M. Ch’en in. Tea at Roots’. (Ag. Smedley). Interesting talk. Tues Jan 18: Ans. from W. D. in P.M. @ ordering my pers. around. Went to movie. 8:15 Holt’s – v. Falk., v. Kram, Johnson & I, Gage, Holt, Clubb, Prophet, Alexandrini (Colin?) Reep, McKillop. Very interesting. Wed Jan 19: Rain – still. Noon – lunch for Smedley, Roots, Moss(es), McKillop, Gage, Boxer. P.M. movie with Josslyn. Read till midnight.



Thurs Jan 20: Snow – (& slush). Lunch at Blandeau’s en famille – charming people. Bitch of a day – sloppy & cold. Saw Wee Willie & bummed. Fri Jan 21: Cold as hell. Letter from Win. P.M. dinner with Roots. Anna Louise Strong & Ag. Smedley. Latter said Jap off was a son of a bitch. Talked till 11. Sat Jan 22: JIRNOFF from Sining in with dope on Lanchow. Clear day. Wrote & wrote. “Escadrille.” – Terrible. Sun Jan 23: Lunch for Amb. Holt, Deans, Wu’s, & sister, & Tibbets (Stuffy. – P.M. bummed & read. Mon Jan 24: Air alarm. False. Sleet. – Durdin & Boxer in. Saw A. Smedley – 4-6:30. Tues Jan 25: By God, there’s a way to screw the god dam War Dept. I’ll go to Kaifeng & keep on going till I get somewhere that the japs will take soon. Then I’ll be on the Peking side of the line & go home. If I go far enough, I’m sure to be unable to get back. – (About as soon as I decided that I met Peck, who said, “Look out you don’t get cut off up there.” (My guilty conscience.) Saw Hsieh who may not go. – Lunch with Ad. Yang, Mayor, Ch’en, etc. etc. Holt, Marplot etc. Wed Jan 26: Is this the day of escape or not? NO. Shang Chên coming FRI. So I’ll wait. Called on TRAUTMAN in P.M. Saw the “Old Soak.” Thurs Jan 27: Air alarm. 6 planes bombed air-field. – AA wide & short. – Shang Chên already in town. Saw John Liu, his sec. Date Fri. at 10:30. – Scribbled & bummed. Fri Jan 28: Office in the A.M. Called on Shang Chên. P.M. felt like hell & lay down. 7:30 dinner – Shang Chen, Liu, J., Jarvis, Josselyn, & I. Sat Jan 29: A.M. office. W.D. “suggests” I drop in at Lanchow on way back from Kaifeng! Anna L. Strong in for tea (3 hrs.) Saw Laurel & Hardy. (Wu’s there.) Sun Jan 30: Yesterday was snow & hail. To-day fog. Shang Chen out as gov.?? Saw “Born to Dance.” Terrible. Dinner with Merritt (B.A.T.) & Ross. Mon Jan 31: Chinese New Year’s – and how dumb to be spending it here. – Lunch at Blandeaus’. Raw, dull day. Tues Feb 1: Mild. Saw Blandeau. He will produce dope on moves of Ch. xx. Saw Belden. Wed Feb 2: He did. J. was going all day to put it out. – Finished at 6 P.M. – Liu phoned – going to-night prob. – He called later. Sure enuf. 11 P.M. – Well here goes. Pd. Jarvis. Square with servants. All set.



Thurs Feb 3: Went to leave at 11 last night. (Drizzle. Cold.) Shang Chen’s special train postponed at last minute. Bought a pei-wo – ($10.28) – (Jan 14 letter from Win. Girls reach Kobe Mar. 5. c/o Thos. Cook & Sons). Liu in at 9:45. Going. Left at 11:00. Compartment to myself – P’êng C.G. of 195th – Kao & Yü of Honan Univ. Liu, Shang & I. Sat till 12:30 & talked. Fri Feb 4: Snow-storm. Held up by break ahead. Quatre-neuf C.A. – Lintochuan – going to Kiangsi, Hsiaokung school of av. to Kunming. KMT in Ch. ch in mar. for congress. (Two Three at Kweitch X), $7.00 a mo. – keep $1 in peace time. Now fed by govt & save $6 – All pings have money. Their conception of service. Div. up to 196 – & soon 200. One 95 man on train going N. One 3 man at Hsienyang. Believe Shansi has 8 divs. in 3 ACS. Kuchutung went to Szechwan to get the boys straightened out. – Then he goes back to Anhui. – Some new divs. are completely new. Snow on hills. A beautiful sight. The party – jolly, joking making light of troubles. No pouring over maps or plans, no high hat stuff. Just easy-going pleasant people, talking phil. & screwing & kidding one another. Good Ch. chow for lunch. Gang on board at 信陽 (Hsin Yang) to kow tow to Shang. (H.G. Wells’ prediction about japs going to Hankow & then getting pushed back through WUSHENGKUAN.) (YÜ got off at Kikungshan. Kao at Hsin Yang,) 4:30 P.M. – 17 hrs so far. – 32 A. will hold Ch. Joe & Kaif. 29th has replaced the ch. N. of river. Peng (195th) is one of Liu Ch’ih xx K.O.’s. Liu’s rep. is bad. – phys. coward. Ch’eng Ch’ien in Chengchow. At Yen Cheng 10:30 P.M. Kuan Lin Cheng aboard. 59 A, (2 & 25). Had 2nd at Paofu (21 & 95 = a chun) (79 Brig. at Hsin Yang.) Sat Feb 5: Up at 7:30. Chengchow. – Waited for Gen. Had breakfast. Went to Free Meth. Miss Reid. Misdirected to McClure. Went all the way & then too late to go in. Back to station & of course had loads of time. Out at 12:30. Chingkao – no planes. (Sung’s recruits at work.) Kaifeng at 3:00. Looked for Taylor. – Out. – Had dinner with LIU and LOU I. Sun Feb 6: Up at 7:30 and walked out to HSÜN LI HUI but of course the goddamned missionary hadn’t come back. That’s twice. Pill came thro., thank God. (Yü Hsueh chung has 6 xx in 3 xxx. One is Tsao Fu Lin, one is Sung something.) Looks like no fight no. of river. The 29th A is no more. Now 3 xxx, one is Feng Chihan (77), one is Lin Ju Ming, one is Chang Tze Chung; Wan Fu Lin still has 53rd – 119 – 130 – 91. (Feng Chan Hai) & takes over Chang Te. Old 29th go to Hsüchow front. Gen. displace. of sta. to last. Sung not highly thought of. 四川 (Szechuan) tr. N.G. The 32nd; now has 16 lll – still the 3 xx. 139 141, 142 1 arty reg*, 1 cav. reg.*, 1 engr bn.*, 1 supply reg.* – Breakfast with LIU and LU. (CHA MAN – T’OU GO’RH) (P’IEN’RH) – Saw Clougherty, (Cath. father) with LIU. – Got the dope. – To lunch with GEN. SHANG. – Back to Y. Dubbed around & did Louisville. – Then to dinner with Gen. Shang. He sure does it up brown. – 7:30 – Gen., Liu, JWS, Clougherty, Mach, Taylor and Li Chih Chun P.O. Li Hau Chen Col. U. Chu Pu T’an (Income Tax) Wis. U. Liu Yüeh Han Carlton U. Lu I U. de Liège Lau T’ing Kan W&T. Tax. Liu Gen. Sec. Li Civ. Aff.



Taylor – Mach – Clougherty. Wonderful chow – Clougherty says “only thing to do with japs is kill them.” Caholic priest! Gen. will chieh shao me with Li Tsung Jen. O.K. Back at 9:30 & talked with LIU. Mon Feb 7: Breakfast with Liu & Lu I. – Lunch with Louis batting out French. Waited for the goddamn train all day. At 3:30 found it would come at 10 P.M. Jesus. (The next day after 4 mos. absence from Kaifang, Shang Chen put on a big dinner for me.) – Went to station at 5:00. Stood till 7:45 when Lü Kang P’i came in. (YMCA lad 王 (Wang) at mat-shed. Nan min matshed.) Jammed. 2000 got on. Me & the zealous young pastor in the vestibule. He tried Christ on a kid soldier. Was much worried about my soul. Wants to lead a “beautiful life”. – The bastard ch’ê fung wouldn’t let me in the 1st cl. car. Cold. My poor feet again. Got to Ch. Ch. at 11. – Everything full. All hotels. Got in at a dump – next to 中央 (Chung Yang) hotel. Almost attacked. Tues Feb 8: Up at 8 & to Baptists. Saw Kepler, Ayres & Chang. Then to see Ts’en (Ch’eng) & to the Magistrate with him. (Air alarm) Got letters off from Ch’en’s house. Ate his tien hsin. To Lü Hsing Shê to ask @ train. 2 P.M.! Bought chow & got train. 95 & 140 here. – Liu Fat Boy just missed being shot by being good friends with Frank. Much talk salutary effect of Han’s bump. (52 A is Liu’s? Comded by a Gen. Wan.) Usual ma fan with police at Kaifeng. Bike cop rode with me to Y. Harrison train. Had letter from Bates. All @ Nanking. Bad enough, too. – KMT having tea for foreigners at the Y. (Dust storm.) More Goddam inspection at the Y. The most sickening aspect of travel in China. Dinner for Liu, Lu, Li, & Ch’en & JWS. ($14.50.) Called on Gen. to thank him for letter. Wed Feb 9: Gen going to Hsüchow himself. Up at 5:15 – Sudden notice, train in. Down in car & waited till 8 A.M. Reached Kweitch at 11:30. To hotel, & thought I had arrived. Found Kweitch was 15 li away. Got a ricksha (30¢) & went out. No one at Fu Yin T’ang. Waited till 3:15. Then looked up Spaniards. 20 ft. from their mission was told there were none in town. Father Ochoa & compadres, good eggs. Ate peanut brick & bread & drank brandy (cherry). Sent a wire. (@15th Inf. out – Chi.) and went to Sheng Kung Hui. Saw Dr. Brown & Gilbert. Back to town at 6:30. Gave my house $1.50. Sung Che Yuan in com’d. here!! 23rd Div. here. – Canvassed for business by a young man who would supply a no.1 kumaing. Thurs Feb 10: Breakfast of hot water, piece of chocolate, & left-over mant’ou. Plenty, too. Cold & windy. Rushed to station, but it was westbound. Froze till 11:45. Lu Kang p’i came in. Mil. ch’a p’iao ti on train. His hair had slipped around under his chin. Very polite. Lao pai hsing westbound. Cheerful, uncomplaining. Sort of a picnic. They get a ride on a train. Tank ditch & tr. at Chang Ko Chuang, but just around station. Tang Shan at 1:45. – Dubbed along –station to station. – In at 6:45. Walked in, past the usual sights – grain shops, shoe-makers, watch-makers, oil-stores, etc. etc. Place crowded – all hotels full. Big p’ai lou at the river bank. (大河 (Ta Ho) low) Pretty sight in the dusk. Got a 60¢ room at the 公興 (kung yu). Fri Feb 11: Up at 9. Breakfast hot water, hsi fan & cha mo kan’rh. 1st to Ma Tai Fu, (McFadden) at Pres. Hosp. Then to Hsi Ts’ai Yuan – Mrs. Brown. – Then to McF’s for lunch. – Mrs. Dr. Greer there. Then a crap. Then to 天主堂 (T’ien Chu T’ang) Gariépy. Then 卐字盒 (Wan Tzu Ho), Yang Hsin Sheng. (徐 (Hsü) the slick priest.) Changed from Fr. to Chinese to LATIN as he found out I



understood. Evidently runs the Catholics who are indifferent & sort of shiftless. However, Gariépy sent a card asking me to stay with them.) Then to Li 司令 (Ssu Ling), out of town. Saw his C. of S., another 徐 (Hsü). No soap on going to front. Wait, wait. To Lü Hsing Shê. No wires in. Left a dollar to grease up. Then to Dr. Greer’s for dinner. Mc, Mrs. Brown , Doc Greer & I. (Sutherland did not go very big here.) (Dorn & Roberts well liked.) Back to my hotel at 9 & turned in. Sat Feb 12: Gen. Hsu said jap pu ping 不行 (pu hsing). Depend entirely on 大 (ta) p’ao & fei chi. 200 wiped out at Peng Pu in attempt to cross river. The chinks are not going to help me – I can see that. Sent No.79 to Barrett. Then went to Doc McFadden’s for lunch. back to lü shê to get out wires. Cold. My poor feet are catching hell. Signs: “Iron – Blood – Save – Country.” (Sent 80 & 81.) P.M. to Brown’s. He’s deaf & mumbles. A christer of purist ray serene. Talks endlessly. Back & moved to the Doc’s. Fond farewell at inn. Six quilts on Doc’s bed. Warm at last. Sun Feb 13: Rain & snow. Just had a good time all A.M. Did codes. In P.M. made an effort. Went to Tel. off. & then 司令部 (Ssu Ling Pu). Saw adj. – Li is in LUAN, Anhui, capital (?) Usual stuff. To hsien yamen for a map. No one in. Chow & to bed. – WARM. SNOW – raw, wet, COLD. Mon Feb 14: To Tel. off. Lü Hsing Shê – train north at 4:30 – To hsien yamen – memorial service. Bulldozed them for 4 maps. No pay. To hosp. Saw wounded. 51st A. capt. & went over records. – Call from 3 musketeers (紅十字 (Hong Shih) Tzu) Hui) from Nan Suchow. They are after dough for their people. Train left at 5 P.M. Friendly soldiers. Got chased away – just like japs. No def. org. N. of Hsüchow. Long stop at Lincheng. Teng Hsien at 10. – Couldn’t find mission. – Got a guide. (Red spears on guard in misty moonlight.) Broke in on Hopkins & got to bed at 11. Tues Feb 15: Up at 7. Breakfast at 7:30. Mrs. Hopkins is quite a man. I shocked them some. Saw their glib & oily chief teacher & preacher (Chin & Chang). – Chin especially a long-winded slick hypocrite. Perfect stream of words poured out of him. – E. Shantung empty of troops, both sides. Saw old Doc Hayes & delivered insulin. Saw the gentle & inoff. missionary type in Mr. Dodd. Saw young Kepler, who ought to be laying bricks. He came thro. Ichow from Tsingtao by car. Not stopped anywhere. Got off at 11 walking, with the donkey. Typical missionary graft. – worthless donkey, dumb driver. Sent him back half-way & got a good one. 3 hrs & ½, first half – 2 hrs. second half. 124th working on position at Lin Ch’eng. Saluted by sentry at bridge. Town full of 四川(Szechuan) pings. Went to k’o chan, then called on Teng Hsi Hou. Very cordial, simple & friendly. Shivered till 10 on a bunk. Inspected by police, who got a shock when I said Teng would pao hu me. To station & stood freezing till midnight. Battle to get on train. Got a seat from a seat hog who had a ju 子(tzu). Froze to Hsüchow. Car jammed with coughing, hawking spitting & snot-blowers. The floor was slippery with slime & then the slime froze. So did my feet. Got to China Travel at 3 A.M. & turned in. Warm at last. Wed Feb 16: Up at 7 but late for breakfast with the Doc. Brown & Dr. Grier in. Went down & saw Belden & Hsieh at Hua Yuan hotel. – Chengchow has had a bad bombing. Hotels at station all caught it. Mumbling Brown never drew breath all the way to the hotel. Went to No. 22 mil hosp in P.M. Plenty of S.I.W. in the hand & arm. 500 slightly wounded, at least 50-75 S.I.W. –



To station at 5. Good trip (free) to Nansuchow – then on to , & by car to Chang Keng Chai. Yü’s Hqrs. Arr. 1 A.M. – Warm welcome. Chow – Beds – the owners sat up & played mah chiang all night. P.M. to Ssu Ling Pu with Belden & Hsieh & arranged for trip south. Dinner at Brown’s. Thurs Feb 17: Got a wire off. – Saw Belden & Hsieh. Going this P.M. – See preceding page. Li T’sung Jen is going to stay in this area; – modified guerrilla tactics. Bad sign. – Descr. Yü’s Hqrs. Wires to divs. He has 113 & 114. – Chang Tze Chung has 180 & 38 – 59th A – front along Hwai of 200 li. – T’ang En Po coming over to help out. 13th & 18th Jap divs against them. Fri Feb 18: Up at 8:45 & fiddled around till noon. Had cocoa – but no breakfast invitation. Hqrs. guard has Czech Brno. auto rifle – 10 shot – beauty. New art has arrived (1 Bn) – their art is small but they get along. Losses have been about 1000 in past four days. – Kwangsi tr. are in 2 AC’s of 5 divs. – Less concern by Ch for P.H.R.R. – think jap reinforce on P.H. is fake to recall Ch. tr. sent to Hsüchow. – Brno. rifle for guard – have shot it once or twice. 13th A coming in to Fowyang; 59th to be at Ming Cheng – 31 Army – is 2 Kw xx – at front – 7th & 48th A (Kw) Hofei – On def. Chang Tzu Chung on right (off R.R.) & Yü astride RR. Chang Tzu Chung in. We saw him. He agreed at once to let us go south. Left after a good chow. Went to Kuchen on Chang’s special. He sent a fu kwan-er with us. Stayed the night at Kuchen station. Everybody friendly. Sat Feb 19: Li Wen T’ien, former safety com. in Tien Tsin, now fu chen chang of 57th on board. Ordered a Ts’ao fu-kuan to take us to Kuchen, then to the front & back to Kuchen. Then phoned for special train & take us to Nansuchow. O Boy, Service at LAST. This Chang Tzu Chung is the best of the whole gang. If we crave the front, he supplies it. [51st will be on left, 59th on right off RR. 59th now coming in; Chang up conferring. Few japs north of Hwai; 2 places – one cleared – action moving west. Why don’t they all jump the 18 xx? “Li liang L-kou!” – ’78? [1 CA is SUNG! 59-68-77. Shih Yu San has 78th A.]

Hell of a night on a board with Hsieh. No pei-wo. Up at 12 – thought we were called. – Again at 6. – Off at 7:10. Cold & nippy. Kuchen bridge uselessly destroyed – temp. bridge of store shutters & door. These Goddam pings are so thorough on destroying the home folks property. Flat all the way. sta on high steel frame. Bridge at Hsin Ma Ch’iao also blown completely. Crime. Now they want to use the RR & can’t. Wounded carried on stretchers all the way to Kuchen. Poked along. ½ way at 10:30. Took an hour & ate. Reached Tsao Lao Chi at 3. – Decided to go to lll P. C. another 12 li. Total today @ 80. Felt bad at noon. Reach LI CHIA WEI TZÜ at 6, & were warmly welcomed. Village in front held by a gang of bandit-looking scrubs. The police captain apologized for them. “Discipline very bad!” T’uan Chang is TS’UI CHEN LUNG, a good egg. – Answered a million questions, gave us a good chow & fixed up beds. Must send him something. He is 678th. 3 Bns. of 500 each. Only lll in line. Rest of Div. (180) not up. 38 xx on right has 3 lll up, in col. lll front 30 li. Fluid front – no trenches. Now reconnoitering to get all stray japs out of his section. Has an area of responsibility. No phone down or up. Supply by carts at night from Kuchen. 90 LMG in regt. No heavy. 6 TM’s. No artillery. 4 doctors, one lll aid sta. Replacements by Sung, the group comdr. Plenty of am. incl. TM stuff. Reports 3-4 times daily from Bns. by mtd. msgr. He is 30 li from his front line. Brig. is 40 li back. And look where the corps is! Ts’ui was at Lang fang, Machang, & Tsang chow. Good spirit, all realize they must go thro. with it. 3 prisoners, uncertain if Korean or Jap.



Japs came across in rubber boats, (canvas?) His front now south of Fu R. & he is gradually pushing it to the Hwai. Japs not active at night. Ch. work at night. (?) The jap bluff has worked off. To bed at 8:30. Sun Feb 20: Police escort plus 2 fu kuans all the way. Retreat of Kwangsi troops to west unexpectedly made a nice rt. angle vs. the japs. Yu Hsueh Chung came in from north & formed line along the Hwai. “Japs can’t move north; Kw. tr. could attack.” Why the hell don’t they! – The Ch. still weep @ no fei chi & no ta p’ao; it is the grand excuse for doing nothing. – Up at 6:40. Good breakfast. Chictan & hsi fan. Goodby at 7:45. Escort of 25 pings to the x roads. 3-ox cart, four wheeler, rode a bit, to tune of kan ch’i ti who made funny noises at intervals to encourage the bulls. Reached HSIN MA CH’IAO at 10:35. – (9 mi.) Had hot water. Left at 11:30. Rode till 1 P.M. Then stopped them & insisted on leaving cart. Would never have made the 3:20 otherwise. First third of way 2 hrs., rest of way (walking) 2 hours. Pushed hard & made Kuchen 10 min. before train time. Held train ½ hr. for the mule. Reached Nansuchow at 6:30. Dumbest people on earth. Finally found Miss Claussen & got in. (The G. d. chink “gentleman” who called the grinder back & read my card.) Had a big dinner at Miss Claussen’s. Mr. & Mrs. Li there too – trained seals. He goes down for his food, but doesn’t suck. – Back to train & off at 10:15 – at Hsü Chow at 2 A.M. Went to Lü Hsing Shê & turned in. Mon Feb 21: Up at 7 feeling fine. No stiffness. Two days’ workout. To Doc’s for breakfast. – Bath. – Sent wire to Johnson @ Maj. Martin strongly objecting to detail. Saw Brown, Dr. Grier, Hsieh & Belden. After lunch chewed the rag with the doc. [1/3 to ½ the Ch. Army has sif. or gonorhea or both. Never any treatment. “Identification tag.” No attention ever paid to sickness by Ch. army medicos.] The train won’t run. (Lü Kang P’i) –Shang ping ch’ê? Sent to see. O.K., if we get permission. Get it. – Train already gone. Night train? Yes? Time. 沒有(mei yu) chun’rh. Finally, coming at 12 midnight. Dozed. Went to station at 11:30 – Stood around till 12. Found train would come at 6 A.M! Went to lu kuan for the night. Tues Feb 22: Got up at 7 – got some cha mo kan’rh & eggs. Train in 7:15. Got aboard at 7:30 with Dr. Liu. Took back tip from chang kwei ti & gave it to kid. Off at 9 A.M. Dozed all A.M. Quick trip to Kaifeng. – arr. 5:50 P.M. Then slow. Chengchow at 11:15. Battle getting off. Pings came in thro. windows. Jumped on top of the pile at the car steps & sunk gently down to the ground. Cursed out the police & went to Lu Hsing She. Not damaged but empty. On to Hsin Kai & got a big room at a high price ($3.20). Dumb muts here. Everybody. Can’t understand “pai shu.” Got in at 11:30 – told us we’d have to beat it at 6 A.M. Everybody gets out of the area. Had a good chow for $1.50 & turned in. – They are running to Sian from Kaifeng. Car was full of good looking girls trying to escape the gorillas – Dr. Grier’s woman, pregnant by a jap lout & the blessed, dear, devout missionaries are going to let her go on & have the baby! Christ must writhe. Of her 2 kids, one died on way down, the other is lost. Wrote a letter for Jarvis to buy the coffee for Doc Mc. Wed Feb 23: Up at 7. Went to Doc Ayers for breakfast. Two Hennebecker boys there, – Miss Conaries – (Misses – more dumb than quick) & a limie Dr. Hanky. Went to see Ch’en at Anglican Mission. Then saw Yen Wu who says no worry – Heavy defenses, plenty of troops, & Ch advancing on east. Very optimistic. Good egg – got in in about 30 sec. Back to hospital, air



alarm – no raid. German horse’s ass named Landau here. Calmly accepted brief offer to stay. Some Int’l Relief gag. – WRONG – Landauer O.K. Waited for McClure who did not come. Back to Hsin Kai for the night. Thurs Feb 24: To train at 5:15 started 2nd class, moved to 1st. Yen Ch’eng at 10 A.M. 106th D there, no other ident. – This is the t’e pieh k’wan! In Hankow to-night. Chumatien at noon. Jap plane kept circling right over the station, but didn’t drop anything. – Lousy lot of soldiers. N.E.? Yen part of 106xx. Sin Yang at 3:15. (Must have slept thro. Hsü Ch’ang.) 27xx – 30xx – 31xx here. – Look good. Sharp contrast to 106xx. Ki Kung Shan at 4:30. LU I got off the train. He’s going to Hankow to-morrow. 44B. Wu Sheng Kuan at 5:00. 44B Kwang Shui at 5:45. 8RD. Hua Yuan at 7. 182D. Arr. Hankow at 10. To An Lu house & got a bath. Fri Feb 25: Mail!. At office all day trying to catch up. Saw “Ali Baba” at night. Sat Feb 26: Vernon Bartlett at lunch. McDaniel in in A.M. Beautiful weather. Took off my drawers. Sat Mar 12: Left Hankow by TRAIN – 7 A.M. No word from Eurasia last night. They never phone of course. Mr. Peng of F.O. had done nothing. Of course. Of course. So I was up at 5:15 feeling like the wrath of God. The peanut butter at Josselyn’s was poisoned, I guess; I was anyway. In a dope all day, slept practically whole time. Arr. Chengchow 11:00 P.M. & went to Hsin Kai. No dope on trains ($31.00). Sun Mar 13: Got the man ch’ê for Lo Yang, pulled out at 7 A.M. (21xx all along w. of Chengchow. Also 27xx w. of Kung Hsien. 195xx had signs up at Lo Yang) Fiddled along, but made Lo Yang at 1:20. To my surprise, passengers got on, so I stayed on, & we pulled right out. Usual squabble with a guy & 3 women – “You take the upper, – O.K.?” “You get off, – O.K.?” “You move somewhere else? etc.” I shut ‘em up & moved next door – a Mr. LIU ($6.30 to Lo Yang) (31D (93rd x) w. of Lo Yang. Also 88xx car marking. Also (1 GA & 77xxx at Hsin An. Also 71xxx Wang Ch’ung – Ch’in. Liu says 71st in Sian, too. Appar. 26th A came up). Shoved off from Lo Yang @ 1:30 & got to Kuan Yin Tang @ 6:00. Then poked along all night. (Had chow, chop & potatoes & hunks of bread. Rancid butter – spoiled jam, rotten meat. Tasted pretty good.) Mon Mar 14: Woke up at P’an Tou Chen, looking right at the snow-covered mts. I may have to climb over. Dozed off & woke up at 9:00! Am I getting sleep! A bright young p’ao t’ang’rh ti got me washed & fed (& got a dollar for it). Sudden excitement at 10 A.M. The crowd beat it to the fields & an armored car came booming thro. Sounded like firing. I thought planes were coming & woke Liu up. Turned out to be a broken coupling & a run away car. Conductor came in & talked. We’ve got to wait here till night, – to make T’ing kwan in the dark. – Ching Pao about 2 P.M. & we backed into the tunnel to play safe. Stayed in till about 5 & then thank God came out again. Had chow at 6 P.M., good too, soup, meat, cabbage, & rice. – Liu & his friend



have been trying for 3 days to get through, & haven’t made it yet. – About 7:30 we finally left old P’an Tou Chen & got beyond T’ung Kwan at 2:00 A.M. Tues Mar 15: Sat till 7 A.M. at first station beyond Tung Kwan. The snow covered Chü Ling looked cold & forbidding. (28xx here. Also some 177xx) Got move on. Ch’ih Shui at 9:30. NO FOOD – NO WATER (Ticket 3.00 & 6.90) (Sign at Liu T’ung by 140xx. Notice to 9 cav.xx (Many K 1 D CHING HAI CAV.) Also what looked like camp followers with collar button nos 177 & 208?) (14th A near Sianfu) (3D near T’ung Kwan) Got to Sian at 12:30. To the Lü Hsing Shê. Chu at once recognized me & asked about Joe. (Probably remembered the row we made over the bill.) Planes to Lanchow, twice a week. One just going. Had a bath & some chow – oatmeal, cocoa, toast. Still hungry. Wire here from Belden, who is “slightly stopovering” at T’ung Kwan. Beautiful spring day. – Shansi univ. people here. 4 Amer. going to Hanchung. – Saw Swenson. – Mr. & Mrs. Fisher there – she is an “explorer” pest. Chow at Ch. Restaurant with Caten & Shalberg. – They shove off with their union for Hanchung to-morrow.

Wed Mar 16: Belden here at breakfast. (Smith, Post. Com., Morsher, Swiss League of N. man, Caten, Shalberg, Sutton, Belden, & I.) Belden covered with lice. – There is a motor road from Sian S.E. to SINYANG Hsüchang. Being cleared of bandits now; a div. sent out to do it. – (Hitler has grabbed Austria). – Air-raid on air-field – small affair. The whole town is panicky; the people run around, the cops get excited & shoot, & generally there is more danger from the Chinese than from the japs. – P.M. got Kung An Chü’s O.K. on my ticket application. Ch. newsboy called. Funeral – 4 musicians – one mourner, a kid about 12, & one cart following the kuan ts’ai – Almost running to get it over with. Sad sight – Wedding – old Ford car with 7 dirty musicians ahead & four beggar kids riding on bumper. – Did codes – Ate more pao tze’s – too many. Thurs Mar 17: Univ. gang off last night. Geologists off this A.M. Saw Chiang’s sec. & arranged for date. (French ret. stude.) – 2:30 Yü called, & we walked over. Chiang Ting Wên is savvy; he doesn’t live in the Hsin Ch’eng – he’s outside near the wall. Looks like an American Indian; is from Chekiang & darn hard to understand. He says – Japs will lay off of Hsüchow; Japs will not cross Yellow R.; will probably cut the R.R. by fire but will stay on N. side; units near river have all been Manchurians; Wei Li Huang is west of the Fen R. in the mts.; there are 300,000 Ch. troops in the prov.; everything is fu tsa2, – the Japs hold the R.R. & main roads; the Chinese everything else; Chiang is responsible for the river line; he has plenty of troops & says posolutely the Japs can’t make it; if the R.R. is cut, motor roads exist for lateral commun. with Honan; he does not expect a Jap move via Ninghsia on Lanchow till after they have taken Tung Kwan & Sian, which they may try to do. Invited me to chow at 6:30. – The terrible Fisher woman was there, & cut up something awful. It must have been agony for Gen. Chiang. She is exactly the type that the British crab about when they happen to be Americans, – a bounder, a boaster, an empty superficial poser. Jesus. I got back in time to make my speech to the Rotary Club, & told them a few things about the Chinese Army that they didn’t seem to like much. Fri Mar 18: Spring weather. Yü, the gen.’s sec. came in & called. Asked me what the main cause of Ch. defeat had been. I told him lack of unified command. – Sent wire ($17.00) Paid for ticket to Lanchow ($180). Took a nap. Now it’s doubtful if there will be a plane to-morrow.



None came to-day. We may dicker for the truck instead. – No, they won’t do it. – But plane will go back Sat. afternoon. Sat Mar 19: This must be some kind of a mile-stone – 55 – bejesus. It’s going to be “slow-down” from now on, as far as the W.D. is concerned, anyway. – Dull & over-cast, so I suppose the plane won’t come. – Shit. – Lunch with Belden & “Gen” LIU, Political Affairs Bureau for Chiang Ting Wen. Ku Chu-t’ung’s man, loaned to Chiang – Columbia & Cornell. Very frank. Following are some of his opinions & arguments –

Q. What will you do for salt & gasoline in the near future? A. O, the solution for that question is very simple. You see, as the japs occupy more territory, the part we control will be much smaller, so we won’t need nearly so much gasoline. We won’t have to move around so much then. Q. Haven’t you had very heavy losses? A. O, yes about 600,000 men killed. But you see that is really a very good thing, because we are eliminating our bad elements. The Chinese soldiers, you know, are all bandits, robbers, thieves, & rascals. So we send them to the front & they get killed off, so that gets rid of a lot of bad citizens. Q. How long do you think the war will last? A. At least one year, maybe two. By that time the japs may be broken financially, or the international situation may change & other powers get in the war against Japan, or (another fabulous reason – forgotten) [“The japs may get home-sick”!!] Really, the more ground Japan occupies, the better, because in the long run the japs will disappear, absorbed by the Chinese. The Mongols, etc. etc. The Manchus, etc. etc. Q. Why doesn’t the K.M.T. use the students in some way? A. University students & graduates are all cowards. They would run away. I know, because I am a university man. What we want the students to do is study science, so that in the next war with Japan they will be prepared to apply their knowledge. Q. How much pay does the soldier get? A. Y 8 a month. It’s a good thing he doesn’t get any more, because he probably wouldn’t fight then. Q. Doesn’t the K.M.T. approve of educating the masses? (Propagandizing) A. No. Why send the students around to make the people hate the japs? They hate them already. Q. Why not use the educated classes as officers? A. The Chinese learned long ago to make the lower classes do the fighting. At first the nobles fought, but they soon got over that, and made the people do it for them. In America, the best elements do the fighting, but Eng. & France use the Indians, the Moroccans, Annamites, etc. to do it. (And now the Japs are using Mongols & Manchurians.)



Q. Do you think the japs will go to Hankow? A. Yes. But I do not think there will be any decisive battle over it. Liu says – Chiang Ting Wen is pers. rep. of C.K.S. in Shensi, Kansu, Ninghsia & Chinghai. Chu Shao Liang commands 8th war zone – Shensi & Kansu – & can also issue orders in name of C.K.S. (Some co-operation needed here.) Fan Tsung-fu is garrison comdr at Tung Kwan, – has the 46th A, now. 28xx 49xx & 140xx. (Apparently, frequent attachments being made in various armies.) Hu Tsung-nan is just a chun-chang. Up here for rest [Prob. under CKS orders excl. Wei Li-huang in actual comd. in Shansi. Yen Hsi-shan nominal. Sung Che yuan’s rabble is in So. Shansi east of the Fen. Wei Li-h. is W. Ku chu-t’ung will go back to the 3d war zone (Shanghai area) ultimately. Wang Ch’ung-kin has 71st A. (21-87-88-89 ?) (Mien Chih) ? 8th A. ? 38th A. Wei Li-huang has 14th A Hu 1st A. Rained in P.M. A fast truck leaves in the morning at 7. Got money back for plane ticket, & got a bus ticket. The wide chasm between the Reds & the K.M.T. becomes apparent when you get a K.M.T. man talking about them. If China gets out of this war with Japan, there will be trouble again internally, unless they pull the Reds’ teeth by giving them jobs, splitting them up, & adopting their plans in some innocuous form.

Chiang Ting Wen told Belden 250,000 Ch. troops in 山西 (Shan-hsi) – 10xx west of R.R. (Wei Li Huang) – 20xx E (四川 (Szechuan) & Sung, etc) – 100,000 troops between Tung Kuan & Chengchow – (250,000 + 100,000 +180,000 at Hsuchow + about 50,000 at Kaifeng = 580,000 + 100,000 on P.H. south of Chengchow. Say 700,000). Around Hankow, 100,000 – Changsha & Nanchang 100,000 – Wuhu – Hangchow 150,000 – Total 1,050,000) Chiang says about 200,000 japs altogether in No. China. Attack on Hankow remote possibility. Details of org of gissimo’s hqrs – Canton – Wuhan – Chungking – Sian – Canton – ? Wuhan – Ho Yao Tsu; Sian – Chiang Ting Wen; Chungking – Ho Kuo Kwang (Ku Chu T’ung) These chi kuans can issue orders in name of gissimo. They are superimposed on the war zones. They are really area staffs with the K.O. temp. absent. A gen & a C. of S. Pol., Mil., & Gen affairs t’ings. Also two ch’us – 1. Bus. exp. & guests. 2. Pol. training of soldiers. War min. has 1. Mil. Com. (trans) 2. Supply of mun. food & clo. Now under Mil. T’ing of the Hqrs. CHIANG (TING WEN) HSING YING CHU JEN as K.O. of gissimo’s hqrs



Sun Mar 20: Rained yesterday doubtful if truck can leave, unless sun comes out. – Had dinner with “Gen” Liu, Pol. Bur. CKS hqrs & Mr. Li, his asst. (Education etc) – Terrible time talking to Li (Chekiang man) – At 10, in comes Chou, excited. “Quick, truck is leaving!” – Well we got ready & the truck left at 11 something – ran all over town & came back to the guest house at noon!!! Christ. We got off at 12:30 in a Russian 3 HC truck, & ran thro. the Loess to 長 (Ch’ang) WU – (400 li.) Big eroded gullies on way. No houses – no trees – just the wheat terraces & caves. Mr. Hô, mech. engr., & Kô chang had his family aboard. – 4 brats, wife & ya t’ou. All kids deathly sick, puking in pots on floor all P.M. The baby shit on the mother’s dress. – At night we had rat visitors. Mon Mar 21: Up at 6 & got cocoa – Then stood around till 8:15 waiting for the goddamn Chinese to get ready. Got to Ping Liang at 1 P.M. & got some chow, in the “truck-men’s rest.” (300 kms from Sian.) Three concentric walls at P.L., hell of a big enclosure. (Changed to a Dodge truck yesterday.) Saw first Russian drivers at P.L. Left P.L. at 3 P.M. & reached the LIU PANSHAN zig-zag at 5:30. 24 kms. across the mt. – 4 million to build (!!!) (I’ll do it for 500,000) No surface yet, so all traffic stops during wet weather. Sometimes 20 days at a time in summer (Chang Wu to P.L. 120 kms. P.L. to Ching Hsian, 120 kms.) (Ching Hs. to Lanchow 250 kms.) About 600 trucks on the north road – Lanchow to Sian. 700 kms 45¢ a ton a km, $350 a ton for the run! Gas costs $150 – 75 gals @ $2 – 10 kms to the gal. Carry in cotton goods – gas – oil etc & bring out tobacco, hides, wool, etc etc. This road is not surfaced. Ballast has been stacked up all along after Ch’ang Wu – Gravel available after here. Many bridge sites open with short detours. Road not in good condition; needs constant maintenance, & of course prompt surfacing. Only about 20’ wide – max grade @ 6%. Liu Pan Shan is at 6,000 ft. Passed what looked like ammun. on a few trucks to-day. – Snow on mts. – colder – also, stinkinger in the bus. Good Chao Tai So at Ching Hsien. Clean bedding – sheet for table cloth – semi-foreign chow. Tues Mar 22: Breakfast! Eggs, potatoes & coffee. – cha mo kan’rh – I made cocoa. Left at 8:15. After 30 kms. took to the hills along hog-backs & high contours. Sun out. Bracing air, high altitude (N.B. Many trucks out of whack for lack of spare parts. No maintenance. Reached HUA CHIA LING, a flea-bitten one-street mt. town at 1:00 P.M. No food. Opium bunks in front room of restaurant. Had sardines & peanuts. Left at 2:00. 150 kms to Lanchow. Got to 定西 (Ting Hsi) at 5 P.M. Just an old camel inn. Walked thro. the town. Had chow ($2!!) at station fan kuan tze – Belden got pig’s liver & couldn’t eat it. – 15 trucks at station. Road bad to-day – sharp curves & grades. Surfacing just starting. Bothered to death all night by police & pings & wrong numbers & the Chao Tai idiot. Wed Mar 23: Cocoa. Off at 8:00. The god-dam brats yelled & screeched all day long. – Rained last night. – No dust. After about 20 kms, 車道山 (Ch’ê Tao Shan) for 30 kms to Licorice Station (Kan Ts’ao Tien). Ruined villages all along the route – relics of the ‘70’s. – Snow-covered range on our left all morning. Road bad – rough & crooked – averaged only @ 20 kms per hr. Came into Lanchow past air field at 2:30 (12:30 local). About 20 Russian pursuits – new monoplane– 6 biplane reconn. & 2 big 4-motor bombers. Russian sign at Ting Hsi. At bus



station met by Kao (F.O.) Chao (sec to Gen. Chu) & Lü (F.O.) Car to Central Bank, where a room was ready for me. Li Tieh-tseng the special com. for foreign affairs came in, as we were having lunch with Kao. Or rather a banquet. Everything is provided, incl. skags. – Talked. Walked around town with Kao. Had dinner with Li. – This reception is the most attention I have ever gotten in China, all due to the Wai Chiao Pu. – Tuan Mao-lan & Hsu Mo I suppose – & Peck probably…. (I wonder what the bill will be?) Thurs Mar 24: → Importance of Ch. CG troops remaining in Shansi. Holds up jap adv. & gives added time for reorg. of regular army. Gives confidence to entire nation. Retards economic development by japs. – Herd of elephants tramped around the room at 6:30, so I got up & joined them. Good ham for breakfast. – Li came & we rode 125 yds in the car & went to see Chu Shao Liang. He’s been sick – seems a bit shaky. Says no fear of japs coming thro Ninghsia, & if they do he’ll beat ‘em up. No commun. – japs depending on motorization. Chiang Ting Wen respons. for defense of Yellow R. Hu Tsung Nan under him. Chu’s job mainly political. (Reconstruction – opium suppression – new crops – mass education, etc.) – (Big hqrs lay-out, big gardens – Tso Tsung T’ang lived here.) About Shanghai – Japs did not use tanks much. Bad weather. When they did, Inf. did not always follow. Chu almost cut off once. Tanks passed him & then went back. No Inf. with them. No Ch. troops ahead of Chu. – Chinese rarely used their rifles. All M G fire. – Only @ 100 plus guns on entire front. – Japs Inf did not come to grips. Planes & art. blasted Ch. out & Inf occupied position. – Ch. learned to “faire le vide” & move in after bombardment. Heavy losses up till then. – Japs couldn’t take it – hard conditions of trench life. Ch. learned that Japs always retired in face of attack, occ. pos in rear & then put art. on the pos. occ. by Chinese. So Ch. instead of direct attack, double-envl. beyond the objective. – “What adv. were gained by fighting at Shanghai?” Big boost to morale, – possible to hold the invincible japs. Experience gained by actual combat. – Jap defects. Inf. much over-rated. Tactical mistakes, i.e. continued frontal attacks.



(At Lanchow – Double 12th 113xx made the trouble. 114th & 118th not in town. Yü Hsueh Chung absent. When he got back, prac. a prisoner. Dahlstene got out a radio saying he was all right. – Reign of terror in town. Finally Nanking told the Mohammedans to come in. Not nec. threat of Ninghsia & Chinghai troops, & Hu Tsung-nan (at 天永 (T’ien Yung)) was enough & Tung Pei gang left, – 114th first then 113th, then 118th in rear. 113th M.G. the airfield – took the av. clo. & money & gave them 10 cents a day for food.

Chu Shao Liang turned over to Chang Fa Kwei the day the Japs landed at Chapu. – Change of command at very unfortunate time. – Chu says jap landing at Chapu was decisive. – “In the retreat, were fresh units already in line at Soochow-Changchow, or were retiring troops supposed to stop on the line?” “LATTER” New orders have been issued for troops to remain in their zones, though defeated. Extension of the guerrilla idea to regular units. This will not be carried so far as to prejudice the existence of the regular army. (A nucleus will be held together & in case of need this or that unit may be ordered out of an impossible situation.) This makes it a guerrilla war on a grand scale without resort to the lao pai hsing. Control, training, equipment all exist already. One way to use man-power. It will give the japs a headache. – None of the regular units in Shansi have crossed the Yellow R.



In 8th – Chan Ch’ü. 150,000 regular troops – Kansu & Ninghsia only. Does not incl. Sian, Tungkuan, etc. (The jap xx at Lin Ch’i was the 5th – 3 regts. cut up. 7,000 k. Believe it or not. – I don’t. – They say 25 or 30 jap xx in China – 5 or 6 in Shansi, 80,000 + in 山東 (Shantung) , south of Hwai, 8. Total 18 – where are the rest? He doesn’t know. Total 500,000 to 600,000 in China. 250,000 to 300,000 on Jan 1. 50,000 since then. Doesn’t know about Chinese losses. Blah.

Lunch with Kao. At 2, went with LI, KAO, LÜ to Wu Shan, Hqrs, of 8th war zone.

Series of temples on steep hill. We got to the Brain Trust. – G.S. & Li translated a lot of slop. These guys don’t know – dispositions, events, or what have you. Everything is “that depends”, or else “in an emergency” etc. Very unimpressive crowd. – They think the New Warfare very cute – something they invented themselves. The Chinese attack at night only, so the planes can’t spot them. Jap art. is ineffective, & they march out for a battle & find nothing. The Ch. can supply their troops because the pop. is friendly. The japs have trouble (Capt. docs. state that food and am. must be conserved.) It is admittedly a dog fight. No one knows where the other guy is & units bump into one another. Adv, with Ch., who are warned by the lao pai hsiug. P’ang Ping Hsien & Chang Tzu Cheng put on the Lin Ch’i show. The example of Han Fu Ch’u is supposed to have made good troops out of bad ones. – Walked across bridge over Yellow R. Bumped into that G.D. Violet Fisher. Li says on her card she has “ADVENTURER AND WRITER EXPLORER & INSTRUCTOR” My God. She couldn’t understand how I was at the Central Bank & not sleeping on the floor. – Bought a can of Cal. grape-fruit for $1 Mex. Peanut candy is $1 a chin (Chengchow its Hq). – Waffles (cold) for 80¢ a lb. Sharks’ fins! – Big cans of Del Monte pears & cherries – $2.50 for 2 lb. can. – Lanchow stores are clean & well stocked. “I Lan” = “One look” – sign done by Tso Tsung T’ang hangs in 五泉山 (Wu Chuan Shan) temple. (Tien pao chü chang says a lot of Russ. in town & also outside. A Gen Akenoff who is with Col. Sun the aviation comdr.)

They are giving us abalone, & cheese, & coffee, & lump sugar, & Cal. fruit, & ham, & cakes & tea at all times. Q. “If the Shansi war is so successful, why not march back into Hopei also?” A. “Well, you see, Sung Che Yuan’s administration wasn’t so good, & he failed to carry out mass education.” (The Son of a Bitch.) Fri Mar 25: The R.R. from Pao Chi to Lanchow has been given up. The connection will be to Ch’engtu, via Tien Shui, & then almost due south to Mien Yang & 成都 (Ch’eng tu) 30 (see map). – Went to Tel. office, & Mr. SHOU took us out to the American mission. (Apple – Dolstein – & Winkle!!) – no one in. Then to German Cath. mission. Saw Budenbuck, the bishop, but couldn’t ask ?’s with Shou there. Back for Li’s lunch, Chang, C of S, Chang, Adv,. Chia Ch’a chang, Yang, 191st , Pan, Trans. 4 maj gens & 1 B.G. 80xxx KO couldn’t come. Had Mohammedan chow – not so hot. (Lily roots good. – (百合) Bai gar – waugh! Got loosened up a bit. – Gen Chang, Jap ret. stude said in 1915 he was at a lecture in the jap staff school when a jap said 2 divs would be enough to invade the U.S.A. if the Navy could only get them to the west coast!!! Belden gave them a run for their money on hua ch’uan. These guys have no use for the Reds – say they won’t fight – say they have only 40,000 – 3 div of 10,000 +. Said the Reds got



equipment & mun. in proportion to their needs. – Dahlsten came in & talked till 5. – Before him the 82d Army man came & talked. – We sent wires, & walked around town. (Tobacco press) – Got a wire relayed from Hankow from Nance & Doot. Rained to-day. At Süchow – Kanchow – Liangchow – three Ma Bros, all sons of Ma Lin, the uncle of Ma Pu Fang At Suchow, regular slave traffic with the west, mostly kids. Sometimes 50¢ for a child. $4 & $5 common. Opium smokers mostly.

→ (By Dahl) At L. 200 R – mech. & chauf – big garage – repairs. Also R av. instr. Gen Akemof head of it. (Sun is Ch. head) A hotel at Yung Teng for the R. No planes now. At one time 100 a mo. (Mar 17, a big 4-motor bomber burned – 32 passengers.) Trucks – 700 delivered Ch. smashed up 90. 1500 ordered. Motored for 5T, usual load 3T. 5 m.p.gal. Good on sandy roads. Run day & night, Sian to Ansi. Mun. (S.A. & art.) going via P. L. – nothing on so. road. No. road straightened, not surfaced. – Air field finished in Aug. of 1937.)

Sat Mar 26: Full day of conferences. 9 A.M. to Lo t’ung chang – admin. man. → How is it the Chinese expect to “develop the N.W.” – a bare ch’ing k’u place far from the sea – by using the same plans under which they say the japs will fail in No. China, a richer district close to the sea? (Open mines, plant cotton, improve communications, crops, etc.) Went to see Lo T’ing 長 (Chang) at 9, & got a lot of crap about his work. In charge of ADMIN. – Relief, opium sup, agric. co-ops, Pao Chia system, conscription, refugees, etc. Mil. training – 18 to 45. 140,000 trained, 1st lot. 2d lot smaller, acct. of plowing & sowing. Conscripts picked by hsien, ch’ü & pao chia changs. According to no. of adult males in the pao chia. Hsien magistrates responsible for polit. training. Lao pai hsing are paid for forced labor. Ease up in plowing time. 1½ million $ paid out to agric. co-ops since July, ’37. 3½ million more before fall. Direct loans at low interest. Now 2000 co-ops; expect 6,000 by fall. 200,000 families now in the co-ops. – Inefficient hsien magistrates get the gate. At 10, went to see Gen. Pan. The ch’u chang (Chia) was there, checking up. In charge of mil transport for 8th zone west of central Shensi. Truck, cart, mule, horse & camel. 1,000 camels (5,000 last year), 1000 carts, 350↑ trucks. (700 available.) Ample store of gasoline. Has parts for the Dodges. All Dodges are 1½ ton. Has some 3 tonners – too heavy for these roads. Does not overload. Says Dodges are the best. Russian trucks too heavy. Russ chauffeurs O.K. Steered off of all attempts to get dope in N.W. route. Says all chün hsieh comes from Sian (Hankow.) None from N.W. Supplies all troops in area with food, clo. & ammunition. No authority over Russians who are under a special chi kuan. Carts are grabbed from lao pai hsing, who get paid for them. A number kept on hand always – (@100). Camels carry 240-300 lbs., carts 1000 lbs., trucks 1½ tons. (“Yes, trucks can carry guns” – but didn’t say they did.) All hints about Russia met shiftily. Met Hulse. Crossed river & climbed hill. Back & shopped for hdkchfs & goggles. After lunch at 3:30 P.M. went to see reconstruction man WANG. (Kao went along – as checker?) See opp. p.

Kansu – Re-construction. In short the Sian-Lanchow-Ansi road now to be surfaced; ready in 3 months. Other roads – Lanchow-Ninghsia… L-Hsining… L-Tien Shui-Pao Chi. Tien Shui south road not started. → WILL GO TO NING-KIANG.



No mines being developed. Coal insufficient. Gold spotty. Oil same. Very unpromising outlook for min. produc. Crops. No improvement till transport improves. Sugar beet, cotton, potatoes, melons, all grow well, but can’t be shipped. Wool weaving & leather tanning in experimental stage. Opium to be entirely suppressed this year (???) Hydraulic: Irrigation projects on Yellow, Wei, T’ao Ho, Hsi Ho, etc. One nearly finished, on T’AO HO – 30,000 mow – Now $10-20 a mow With irrigation, $40-50 a mow. 2 ton per mow production dry, and 5 ton irrigated. Finish in June,’38. Loan from C. G. $250,000.

Another project, 90 li w. of Lanchow on Hsi Ho 30,000 mow. Loan from C.G. Not started yet. No others under way. Wang’s plan – Dam Yellow R. in gorges, divert entire stream into Ninghsia for irrigation. Reduce down-stream flooding. 25 million mow. Est. $20,000,000. – Control of the FEN, WEI (CHING & LO) would materially reduce floods in lower reaches. (The Wei is 40% by weight in silt; the Fen 30% Ching & Lo 25% – (Yellow R at Saratsi only 2%) (Yung Ting Ho 13%). → The “Development of the N.W” is a dream. It will be a slow & painful process, & cannot return anything on investments for a long, long time. They are kidding themselves. Back at 5:30 – At 6:00 looked up HULSE (C.I.M.) – He says – no planes have come in for 3 weeks. Used to come by 12’s – max. of 8 flights in a month. Present planes are for training (@ 30 pursuit & reconn.) (1 med. bomber + 2 four motored bombers.) (Latter are very slow). Has seen heavy bombs on truck, 3 to a load (1000 lbs). – When mun. come through, all private trucks are grabbed, & the owners go to all lengths to avoid it, taking off wheels, or hiding the cars, etc.

Apparently, Gen Pan & 8th zone staff, has nothing to do with this munitions haul, – he simply supplies his troops. Gen Akimoff, said to be “in charge of north road,” by Ch’en. Reconstr. man is appar. notified of the tonnage expected, & tells the Ch. how many trucks to grab. Trans-shipped here, & Russ trucks take back gas. (??). An inn-keeper said he had seen 6 small tanks go through. No dope on S.A. & art. am. except size of boxes, which correspond to these classes. No planes in since Mar 23, & acc. to Hulse for 3 wks previous. At 8:00 Mr. Frank Ke-min Chow (Michigan) came in. Evidentially sent in by Chief sec. Ting to pump me. “Are you on a special mission?” “What did you come here for?” “Will you make a written report to your ambassador?” etc. etc. Getting tiresome. Turned in at 9:30. Sun Mar 27: Jumbo’s birthday. Q: Why a t’ê pieh yuan (special envoy) like LI here if not for the Russians? Only 2 others in China. He has a Russian speaking asst (LÜ) Interesting sheep skin rafts on river. 13 skins = 1 p’ai tze. Quite an industry. Suspicious soldiers on the hill. One told another we were probably making a map of their lay-out, which consisted of the temples they lived in & a lot of rat-holes in the hill-side. The bloody dumb clucks. Went looking for post-master, Shou & LI CHIH SHE shê chang. All out. Walked & did the shops. Saw the noon gun shot off. Russkies all dressed up to-day. – Our waiter says some 40 aviators living at the LI CHIN SHÊ. Sun & Akemov live there. – They come & go. Well behaved – huge appetites. Four meals a day. 4 men = 1 big loaf of bread. Recently no planes in. – Also that the mech. & chaufs all live outside of town. – Russ. movies – elec. current insufficient for sound.



Had a bath – 60¢ – in the t’e pieh p’en tze. → Went to Li Chih Shê – nobody home, except some gangster looking Russkies – Back again, & Mr. Y.S. Chang was there (Formerly Li Chih Shê in Nanking) – He says @ 45 Russ. here, – av., mec., etc, – all live at L.C.S. Under the control of Sun, the av. chief (retd. Eng. stude). Now sick. The R. refuse to see any guests. Won’t even tell Chinese their names. Keep to themselves strictly. Even the gov. does not know how many R. are here. None of his biz. appar – direct control of av. by Frank. In my opinion, the av. ordr has been filled, & the planes now here are used entirely for training. – The motor gang, acc. Chang, live in the HSIN KUNG. Sources Gov. Secretaries – Chao & Chou, Li T’e Pieh. Kao – Lü (F.O.) – Lo (Adm) – Wang (Reconstr.) – S.C. Tu (Auto) – 8th zone staff Hsining auth. (Changxx, Changxx, Chiaxx) – R. RestHouse – 191st xx Yang – Chan changs, – 80thxxx K’ung – Aviator – Transport (Mil), Pan x – Road Bureau (T’an) – Hai Shan Yen (Tibetan interp.) – Missionaries – Br. scarlet fever) Hulse – C.I.M. Dahlsten – 7th Day, Schultz & Appel, 7th Day, Buddenbrock – Ger. – Observ. (pers.) Inn-Keepers – Servants – Russians impossible – Sun sick – Akim. Servants listened in on all conversations. Mon Mar 28: Li called up at 8, & thank God, the lecture is off, for now at least. – Went to see SHOU, who gave us the Kansu map off the wall. “O, yes, I’ll give you a card to the P.M.” asked four times, each time ans. was “Yes” – Finally he pulled the map down. Typically Chinese. Never did intend to give us a card; knew it wouldn’t work. → Ch. char. If you play square, you get stung. If they say they will do their best to get a car, & you take their word, good-night. – But if you are a Mrs. Fisher, & hound them to death, they will do anything get rid of you, paying no attention to the people who play fair. The RR (L.H.) will go from Pao Chi to Tien Shui & then south via Mien Yang to 成都

(Ch’engtu). Survey is finished, but work has not started.



Walked out to LEI T’AN & got turned back “CHÜN SHIH.” Should be chün shit. Went up on hill & got fine view of city, arsenal, north road, etc. Complete inactivity at arsenal. On & peeked down at the motor repair shop at HSIN KUNG. In past street of company inns. Goods dumped in courts. Little stores at front door. The carters get their money & spend it on straw hats or red silk. Plenty kuniangs around. Back at 12:30. (Saw Kao & put the heat on him to prick Li to prick T’an to get us a car for Hsining) One truck in from the north. Machinery? Gun mounts? ??? → THAT’S THE OLD FIGHT! Examples of Ch. stone wall defense. 1st Shou & the map (“P.M. is sick”, etc.) – 2. Kao “Li phoned 4 times & couldn’t get Mr. T’an.” “The gov. phoned Ma Pu Fang, but no ans. has come.” (a dam lie – the tai piao wired.) 3. Dumb ricksha pullers. 4. No admittance at temple. “Just get a t’iao2 tze & you can come right in.” 5. Li this A.M. “What have you done about going to Hsining?” O, Christ. (Said there was too much mud to go to Hsin Kung. And didn’t even know where it was.)

→ LEI T’AI turned out to be, first, LEI T’AN, & then CHIN T’IEN KUAN. (Carlson says the Reds are very, very continent. He would have us believe that they can howl a few slogans & forget all about their hormones.) At 6:00 went to governor’s for dinner – Chu Shao Liang, Yang, Chang, K’ung (Têng absent). Belden & I. Very good chow. The boys were pretty stiff with Chu present. Got them going on the Shanghai fighting. While Chu was in line, in the center, Ch’en Ch’eng was on the left & Cheng Fa Kwei on the right, & Ku Chu T’ung was in command. – Chu had only 9 divs – none was relieved. No reinforcements were received. They lost about 2/3 of their strength. Sick averaged only 1/10 of K & W. Average frontage was 3,000 meters, & was not reduced as losses increased. All strength in one line, – no reserve position. Ch. soldiers did not worry about bombing. 1st Div stayed in line over 50 days. Japs had to have frequent reliefs. Their 9th & 11th Div the best units. Men of all ages in all divs. Unwounded japs surrendered. Many prisoners said they fought unwillingly. Ch’eng Ch’ien was never at Sh’ai. Belden put his lunch, & then felt better. Pulled out at 9 P.M. Gov. O.K.’d the trip to Hsining & told Gen Chang to wire ahead. We see T’an about trans. at 11 A.M. Tues. Tues Mar 29: Nor art. has come in, or it would have been talked about. All the stuff is boxed. No check on quantity, because besides convoys, there are trucks that move singly day & night, & nobody knows which is commercial & which is military. There has been a drop in activity lately, & anyway the intervals of shipments are very irregular. The prob. are that shipments have been exaggerated, & no consid. amt’s. have yet come in. The road isn’t good enough, the need is not urgent, & plenty is coming thro. Hong Kong. (My guess) (→ Ricksha decorations. “HATAMEN” and “CERAGICOI” – on back of body. At 9:30 went out to the Ko ming Chi Men Hui. – Usual mass meeting. Boy scouts, band, soldiers, school girls. 20 pings standing around with pistols out & finger on trigger. Flags everywhere. – Went out to Hsin Kung & up hill. No. road empty. Beautiful sunny, dry day. Saw T’an at 11 & he turns out to be the New Energy working on Chinese inertia & getting a headache over it. Ret’d Eng. stude. Marine & Diesel engr. Now on road work under C.G. C.G. controls Sian-Lan, Lan-Hsining, Lan-Hami; Paochi-Ningkiang roads. Now building Tién-Shui to Ningkiang, (Ready in June), to hook into 四川 (Szechuan) road. → All traffic to Sian going via P.L. Two repair stations – Sian & Lan – 200 trucks. – 100 a month in at Lan garage for repair. No spare parts. No stock of raw materials. Hodge podge of machinery. Estimates a loss of $1500 per year on each truck running – acct. of



grades & bumps, etc. Wants to put the one & a half million on the road (1000 trucks) instead of buying new cars all the time. Wants to use Diesel tractors @ 15 kms p.h. & 3 trailers @ 6 tons each. New driver each 8 hrs. Run day & night. – Says RR is the ultimate answer. Up-to-date, efficient man. Wants to build uniform type stations & guest houses, & make them clean. Relations with R. – “Mr.” Akinoff in charge. They treat him (T’an) like a child in explaining jobs. Apparently he takes instr. from them. Has as little to do with them as possible. Maybe R. still own the R. trucks, & he has to maintain them. – R. ch. & mech in a guest house in city. “Very simple but clean.” Appar. not the LI CHIH SHÊ. – T’an said most of his trucks were Russian, with some Fords, Chevs. Dodges, Internat’l. & Stewarts. Latter the best. – Says some R. chaufs. work E. of Lanchow. The R cannot be carrying anything but munitions. R. trucks – 7 kms. per gal. Called on Appel, Dahlsten, Schultz. (See preceding p.) – They came in from Yung Teng with 10 R. trucks carrying x freight, unident. Up from Sian, they were in a convoy of 50, some carrying air-plane engines to Lanchow. (Possibly bringing back to L. a dump at Sian, for fear of raids). → AA guns and search-lights have come in. No other types of guns. Noticeable dim in traffic lately. ? acct. Canton now free of fear of invasion? Yes. Might have been 200 a day for a while. – R. chaufs. live 10 li up the road in a compound. Very neat. Room for 50-100 trucks inside. – Very few pvt. owned trucks now; gov’t has grabbed them. The road to Yung Teng is terrible from there north very good, – all gravel. Chinghai roads very good compared to Kansu. (Jarvis got so tight he forgot all about paying for his fare to Hsining. Schultz never got any letter about radio call-letters & schedules with the navy ships.) Mr. Kao came in to get me to go to some propaganda plays, but I begged off. So he stayed & sucked soup with me. He’s a chop smacker & snuffles as he eats. – Jesus. Belden is sick. I wonder if he has typhus. Wed Mar 30: Belden got up. His trouble was just booze at the gov’s dinner. – Chao, 82xxx came in. Told him about going to-morrow. Then in came the Tibetan interpreter & spilled over. The Mohammadans are suspicious & scared of the Russians. Pai Ch’ung Hsi had to go up & fix them up. This is why Ma Pu Fang got Ma Lin’s job – he promised to play with C.G. But they suspect anybody who gets along with the Reds, – either Chinese or Russian. – R. are in control of No. Sinkiang, but nothing can be done about it now. C.K.S. doesn’t like it, but has to string along & make his people go with him. – Total R. plane order 300 – & replacements keep coming. R. av. pers. live in LI CHIH SHÊ & also at field. Chauff. & mech. at place north of town. 3 places. Check. Total number normally around Lanchow 300. – Probly. 500 on road. In & out. Also said the total was around 1000. – Stuff coming comprises bombs (2 big ones to a truck) – guns, number unknown – ammun. – (Schultz saw airplane engines (some Pratt & Whitney) coming back to L. from Sian.) Some truck convoys of 50 tr. Traffic not so heavy as it was Tsang kappa = Tsung Ka Pa = the “man from Tsung”, – a place name & not “Onions.” – The tree with Fu on the leaves cannot be seen. – Dead & housed in – (Ho li from Hsining) Hai has been to Lhasa. Can make it in 40 days now from Hsining. Saw bus sta. people @ bus. Saw Li & Kao. Belden got plane app. stamped. Not nec. go to field. – Saw a poor devil being hustled to execution. Almost D.T.; @ 15 soldiers, rifles & bayonets, off. with pistol out, & grave squad in rear. All very important, “out of the way there”. “We’re going to kill this guy.”



Planes on Tues & Fri. I tinged a seat for Fri Apr 8. 15K of baggage. There are about 5 trucks in every big inn in the E. suburb. Empty. Appar. all Dodges, Studes, Chevs, etc.

Pao chia dug-outs on the hills. Each pao chia has one or two, all ready and marked. Hqrs. of nos. 11 to 15 pao chias on west “Tien St.” → Lad pressing a quilt by walking around on it on a bucket cover. → Walked out to T’an’s to ask him to dinner, & there were the Fishers. Jesus. She’s trying to go to Hsining, but hasn’t gotten permission, & I hope it’s too late. Wouldn’t that be sweet. She tried to crash the gate on Akimoff, & got turned back by an armed guard, who said there was no such person. Afterward he said he was there to keep anybody form seeing Akimoff. Paid the boys off – $20. – Sent a wire for $300. – Kao came in; Belden has lost his seat on the plane. Thurs Mar 31: Li phoned that he had phoned to Yung Teng (But he hadn’t). At station, no reservations. T’an is a faker. I horned in on front seat of baggage truck, after a scandalous scene over passports put up by Mrs. Fisher. (“Miss Bisher’s name has changed to Fitch, but Violet Fisher’s still a Bitch.”) Left about 9. – Passed the R. chauf. hotel & truck-yard about 2 mi. out. Heavily guarded. Armed R. in front. Few trucks inside. Nothing doing just now. The road to Yung Têng is Bad to Terrible. Just a grade – heavy with sand & dust. No surfacing any where. And getting worse. Not a single man working on the whole stretch. Did not meet one truck all day long. It got a little better after HSÜ CHIA MO. 70 li from 永燈 (Yung Teng). Passed some Kansu beef on the hoof – great hairy beasts with long horns – very heavy. The country is a desert – not a tree or a blade of grass. Just dirt. There is a sandstone stratum over-laid with loess, & the erosion has cut down into the stone, which stands perpendicular with effects like Brice Canyon. One temple perched on a tit looked deserted. People miserably poor – no towns, just groups of mud houses. From Hsü Chia Mo up, there is irrigation, & as a result quite a population – several walled towns. Yung Têng (5 P.M.) (70 mi.) is a one story collection of shacks. Mud & brick wall, but a poor place. Stopped at the R. inn – no convoy here, so plenty of room. Got chow in town ($1.60) which they thought O.K. at the inn. Garrulous guide, thank God, for he spilled the beans. There is no regularity. Maybe one convoy a week, maybe none. Sometimes two. They come in groups of 30-40-50 trucks & sometimes there are 120-150 men along. Average probably ≥ 50 trucks a week. If T’an’s figure on losses was correct – ($1500 annually on each of 1000 trucks, due to the bad road & consequent breakage & heavy gas consumption) & if he has 100 trucks a month in the shop, & presumably as many more at Sian, & Suchow, & Hami – Then an outside figure would be 1500 running & 500 under repair. – It takes about 12 days from Hami to Lanchow & 5 or 6 more to Sian. At the best, without break-down a truck could make the round trip to Hami in one month. That would put 1500 a mo. into Sian. – At 2 tons each that is 100 tons a day. I believe this is twice too much at least. Allow one convoy of 50 trucks a week at 3 tons instead of 2, & that put 20 tons a day into Sian. An average of 2 convoys a week would be high. No one claims they get it. So from this point of view, the delivery is somewhere between 20 & 50 tons a day. To get more than 50, T’an’s figure would have to be raised without reason. Only one estimate gives over 1000 trucks on the road. (Dahlsten – 1500 bought. – But were they delivered?) So, quantity is pretty well taped. It may be as low as 15T. It can’t be much over 50T. (MY GUESS IS 30)



Just had time out for a dumb-bell from the magistrate’s office to look at my passport 20 times. Meanwhile, the inn boss said that no art. had come in this way. He says the big stuff is aviation on this line. (And Schultz saw engines going back at Lanchow.) Survey stakes in for grade all along. Work to begin soon to put the road in shape. About time. Fri Apr 1: Up & had cocoa. Off at 8 – & went @ 2 miles toward Sinkiang. Back & up a long divide, then down into the Ma Lien T’an canyon. Ain’t that somep’n. 20 li on the edge of a cliff 100-400 feet high. Down into Siang T’an – Chinghai – over a trussed cantilever wooden bridge in red & blue, @ 100 feet above river. Solid, but plenty side sway. Got lunch with Lung Hai Wei. Ate ½ a loaf of ching hai bread, with cheese. Excellent. He had 2 little baskets of cut-up chicken. Then up the Yellow R. all the way to Hsining. About 200 kms to-day. Hard going till Liang T’an, then better. The road is cut out of the side of the steep cliffs along the river. A snow-covered range in the distance all day. High altitude & bracing air. At LO TU (Joy Capital) – eroded sandstone Gothic-looking things on a big scale. Kids look healthy up here. Villages poor – little food. Hills bare of course. No pigs. Saw some Fan Tzú. (Chinghai’s 2 million is @ 1/3 Fan Tzü, 1/3 Mongol 1/3 Moham. Chinese (& Turki?) Fan Tzü wear lots of red. Many fine rug ju tze (saddle bags). Dark caught us 20 li out, but we came on in by flashlight. Gave chauffeur Wu & asst. 5 beans for good driving. Best chauffeur in China. Met at K’un Lun lü kuan by a chao tai-er, Chao. Had supper with him & got a bath – good & hot. → Mostly air stuff along new road. Plus bombs, art. am. & M.G. The Ching Lai troops are short of guns & MG. No ta p’aos coming this way. Got to bed at 10. The Fishers went to the Br. Mission, thank God. Sat Apr 2: Up at 6 with 3 helpers all over me, picking stuff up & putting it in wrong places. Too willing to be useful. Had grapefruit & oatmeal. Then Chao & friend came & I had to eat again. Hot milk & sugar – scrambled eggs & mutton, bean sprouts, toufu, bread & Mongol butter. And hot wine. Some breakfast. Went & saw Ma Pu Fang at 9:00. He is 38, 回回 (Hui Hui) LING HSIU, governor & K.O. of 82d Army. One cav. div. has gone out (Ma Piao, 1 xx c) – no others. He says Japs won’t cross Yellow R. because they won’t be let. Says Russia is letting Japan & China fight, & will get something out of it for herself. Usual patter @ gratitude to U.S. – Uses his troops freely on roads. Now has 2 lll working on Kanchow Road. – (Pai Ch’eng Hsi has been here.) Says the Reds are nothing. His boys smeared 50,000 who went up toward Kanchow to hook up with Russia. Not afraid of anything they can do. – Back & had a call from Mr. Ch’u – local newspaper man. He says the 山東 (Shantung) fight is being put on by P’ang Ping Hsun, T’ang En Pao, & Sun Lien Chung. (?) Walked – Got on wall (verboten) & then did the streets. Picked up by a Tibetan instructor in the language school – Mr. Wang – been to India, Eng. & Fr. also Peking. He sunged me around town. Good ju-tze scarce. Plenty good ones go by on mules. Saw a mule being tried out. $350!! Many Mongols in town. Sturdy, dirty, frugal, hard-bitten buggers. Faces like Sitting Bull’s – weather-beaten. Some Roman noses – All in sheep skins. Visited an inn where they were eating – (tea & bread) – met them afterward in the street – All smiles & how-de. The Chinese merchant in comparison is a sleek, smooth, delicate, intellectual, with thousands of years of refinement in him. But the Mongol is much more simpatico. – Fan 子(Tzu) women in long purple & black & red silk wrap-arounds, enormous single braids of hair, &



wearing men’s Fedoras. – Some in sheep-skins, woolen. Their boots are the fancy article, moccasin foot & upper of colored wool to the knee. Tibetans here, too. Two old men who have been on the detail to select the new DaLai. Not many Mohammedans. They wear the flat black cylindrical hat. – (Also one funny-looking American.) → Ma Pu Fang is in business. He owns the K’un Lun Hotel & the biggest store in town, & what not. But his legs bother him considerably. Locomotorataxia, I suppose. – Prices are high on rugs – not much different from Peking. → Ma Pu Fang has plenty motors – Chu Shao Liang only 4 or 5? Ma traded with the Pan Chen Lama. – gave him 500 horses, & he turned over his cars. Walked up on south wall. Friendly ping. Around the hutungs. Many blind, & some sad sights. – Old weaver making (horse) hair cloth on the crudest loom I ever saw. Bought the ju tze for $12. He had refused ten. About $1 a foot, which is high, I suppose. → The 100xx has German rifles (Mauser – 5 shot mag.) made in Dantzig in 1890. – Coal is $1 for 70 chin. – Chao came in with Wang K’ô Chang for supper. Started for a bath but all tubs were full. The Harrises came in with the Fishers. The Bitch at once started re-arranging the trip. “Who is the interpreter?” “Can’t we get another one?” “But I want to ask many questions.” If it’s a truck, there is no limit & we can ask somebody else to go.” At this point I told her it would be well to speak to the gov. before changing his arrangements. She got mad & asked Mr. F. how about calling the trip off. She can go to hell if she thinks I’m going to be interpreter for her. The gov. did not see them. Now she says that a man came & told them the car was prepared for them. She’s a goddam liar. Thinks Chao is detailed as an interpreter for her. Sun Apr 3: Bitch had to stick her long nose in my bed-room last night. Jesus, she’s a pest. – Contrast – 20 pings in Lanchow with one man going to execution. Two mounted men in Hsining driving 8 tufei, & not even a pistol out.) Started for Tá Erh Ssŭ at 8. Bitch was in the front seat. Snowstorm. Stuck in the mud. I walked about 2 miles & sent mules & horse back. Meanwhile car got in by different road. Thank you? O, no. Just “I thought maybe you had gone for horses.” Pay for them? Not an indication. Christ, what mutts. Chao & I went around the temple together, leaving them to themselves. CHIN UA SSÜ, Tsung Kappa’s memorial. The old tree, now just spindles, just in front. Grooves worn by k’o t’ou. Boards replaced every year. 3600 dirty lamas. Rich temple-land & contributions, Chinese type temples. Egyptian style bldgs for high rank, some living Buddhas, – ordinary houses for the herd. Pan Chen Lama’s house was red – up on the hill. Usual lama lay out. Nothing distinctive. Some lamas from Peking. Tibetans, Mongols, Fans, Chinese. Big herd of yaks. Picturesque colorful scene. Long strings of camels on way back. Had chow at Gen Feng’s inn (& house). Mutton, pao tze, tea with ping t’ang, etc. Got stuck in a big hole. Show for the populace. Back without incident at 4 P.M. So that’s Kumbum Look up Huc & Gabet – Am not being allowed to spend any money. Chao is getting on to the Fishers, with my help. She’s a hell of an “explorer”. – All lamas smell alike. – Snow did not reach the city except in early A.M. – Fisher begged some Gillette blades. – Wonderful lot ju tze & ma ch’ans, but can’t find out where to get them. – Gave Harris & Fisher some razor blades, contradicted Bitch a few times and, I hope, said goodbye forever. This guy Harris, like all missionaries, knows nearly nothing of events & facts. – A bunch of callers – another Fr speaker. Bath. Jesus, the bus leaves at 5 A.M.



Mon Apr 4: Up at 4 & got going. Hell of a time getting Chao up. Tried to give him $5 – no luck. Left $5 for the boys & got to station at 5:00. Seat O.K. Left at 5:45. Usual affair at start. The late ones come a-runnin’ with their eyes sticking out, yelling & throwing 行李 (hsing li – luggage) around. In the alley we passed 3 more, one with a truck. We already had 18 passengers on our load. Down the street, & out they came trying to flag us. – It would make a good movie. Got to Siang T’an at 12:00 and then up the Ma Lien T’an gorge. Reached Yung Teng at 5:15. About 400 li (120 from Ma Lien T’an village – or 145 from Siang T’an – up a slope & down a slope. Got hold of Hsi, & left a tenner in full sight. He’s a bright lad, – he got it. Value received. Mr. West at Everlasting Lamp. In Dec – 15 AA’s. Jan Feb Mar @ 20-50-70 a week. NO ART. Apr 1 – 120 – av. gas in drums. Also a few covered trucks. No one allowed to see. R. drivers carry pistols. No Ch. guards. Thro. to Sian. Another next week – 150 (@) car gas going W & av. gas coming E. This is 3x ordinary traffic. Total 1700 tr. Tues Apr 5: (Dream at Hsining. Got off the floor & did not come down till I floated all the way across the hall & into & across another room. Then gave a push backward, & by gosh, I had it! Rose up about 5 feet & floated around. Gave another hunch & did it some more. I had the trick at last! Said to myself now I can do this any time. Waited ¾ hr for a goddamn lu 長 (chang) to get out of bed. Off about 7 – down the line about 30 kms, & then the hills all the way. The road is terrible. Lao pai hsing being drilled. One or two road gangs going out. – Well about 40’ deep with spiral walk down to it. – Got in at 2:30. Paid the boys off & started for K’un Sien Fun, but got caught by boy from the bank. Belden still here, so went back there. – The Tibetan says 500 R. around town. He’s crazy. You could see that many. – The river was ‘way up due to rains. – The asst. chauffeurs lets farts that smell like roasted sweet potatoes. – Went for a ride on a skin raft – came down thro. the rapids. (60¢). Big raft with a coffin far down river. To-day to CH’ING MING CHIEH. Had tea at end of bridge. Then discovered the cast-iron supports for the old boat bridge. Two in each side of river. “T’ieh lan” were 120 wen acc. to inscription. Bridge was built in HUNG WU’s time (大明 (Ta Ming)) and remained till replaced by present bridge in 1907. Young lad told us the supports were 20 chang long!! Just the end of the other one sticking up with annular groove for making fast – iron castings two feet in diam. This would be a grand place for movies. – Got my money from the P.O. just by signing my name. No delay, no question, no identific.!!! Harris saw about 15 field pieces together in Hsining. – 4&6 horse teams → IRON in Yung Teng is $1.50 a lb. → Iron sauce pan, short handle, $5.00. 15 feet of cord, 25¢. Wed Apr 6: Belden took off at 8 in a mil. truck via 天水 (T’ien Shui). Dahlsten & Schultz came in. [Big gang of R. officials(?) in town. S. saw @ 60-70 R. av. at field on way in. No one knows what’s up.] Mail from Hong Kong being censored. Went to see S.C. Tu (auto distr.) He says these were 600 or so cars on the road. Now only for mil. use. Freight is 38 cents a kilo, not a pound & not 45¢. Says Pan may have 200. Says T’an has less than 200. R. cars are all under own control. 30-40-60 a week. Rarely more. Irreg. intervals. Mostly av. stuff. No one knows what else. Over 1000 R. cars – Not 2000 – altogether. Says, No, not a great no. of R. in town. Believe he is right. Transferred to K’un Lun at noon. Saw av. Co, – all seats grabbed by military, So it’s truck again. – Kao called. – Talkative av. bird at inn. He’s all for Hawk &



Northrop. Usual exaggerated stuff about the japs being afraid, & how many machines the Chinese got. – Said great many bombs had come in. Bought stuff & ting’d a seat on bus. Had 55¢ dinner & turned in. Thurs Apr 7: Belden & Li in at 9 P.M. He had been arrested & held incommunicado all day (12 hrs.) – R. charged him with taking pictures at air-field. Looked up Li. Insisted on development of film. O.K. No news at noon. Went to Li’s office. Saw Kao. Called on 82A tai piao. – Special truck being prepared for us. – Saw gov. & said good-bye. He is muy simpatico. I spoke @ Chinghai bread & he at once told Michigan to send me some. It came at 8. – 6 loaves & 4 cans of salmon etc. (回回頭 (Hui Hui T’ou))! Went to see Li. Out. Backed Kao into corner, but he can’t do anything. Dahlsten, Waikle & Schultz came in. Fri Apr 8: ? No. Note from Li – “See Gov at 11.” O, shit. Russian ambass. coming in. – Now what? At 11 went over & saw the pictures. Everything fixed up. Camera & films to be sent back; Belden to made a statement. Leave to-morrow. Had excellent lunch with Li at Hsiao 有夫 (Yu Fu). [The Tibetan called. Flat roofs in Tibet. Whole village 合作 (Ho Tso) when you want a house built. Hsi Tsang is Chinese “West Tsang.” Tsang is Tsang – Po Te Tsang Tibetan name for Yang Tze) Wut is Tibetan for Tibet. This lad puts a “k” on everything. “Hen hao-k” “多 (To)-k” “Hsien tsai-k” etc. “Lama-k”] Shopped for gifts for Kao & Li. Went to bed. Turned out by Li & went to Chinese Theatre. Not so hot. Col Fan delivered the camera & said truck was ready. Had chow at 小有夫 (Hsiao Yu Fu) and saw Li Chan Ch’ang from 永登 (Yung Teng). Pd off. Sat Apr 9: Got off at 9:15 in Russian truck. I sat behind, with Mr. Belden occupying the Mrs. Fisher seat. Bright & clear. Ting Hsi at 3:30. Then the usual excuses, – no lights, brakes to be fixed, etc. Stayed at Chao Tai Lo. Room for 100 Russkies. Sun Apr 10: To Ping Liang. Off at 5 A.M. Hua Chia Ling at 8. Ching Ning at 1 P.M. Foot of 六 (Liu) Pan 山(Shan) at 3. Over at 4. In P.L. at 5:30. Some going. 1st day 120 K – 2d 280k 3rd 300k. Chauffeur is O.K. Small inn, not bad. Fine day over the hills. Mon Apr 11: Up at 4 & off. Beautiful spring sun. Trees all in bloom. Tinge of green from wheat. All carts have auto tires. – Ta Foh Ssü – rock temple in Wei R. with caves. In Sian at 4 P.M. – T’ao ping ni chairs rode in to Hsien Yang with us. Pd off the gang. Tues Apr 12: Washed clothes. Breakfast with Smith, (P.O. Com.) He knows nearly nothing. Has an eye for good color in clothes. – Slow train reported out at noon. On advice of station boy, let it go, expecting to get to k’uai ch’e, to-morrow. Against my hunch, too. Interviewed by the 王 (Wang) boys, of Central News. Lunch with Landauer & Dr. Chiang, old Chiang Kang Hu’s daughter. She’s with Landauer. Grad. of P.U.M.C. Chiang is in Java. – Wrote. At 5 Gen. Liu came in, & went to see Chiang Tung Wen. He’s a ringer for a Mexican. Then shopped, ate pao 子 (tzu), & came home. – (A.M. went to 8th R.A. Hqs.) (P.M. Wei Li Huang’s man in. Says 300,000 Chinese in Shansi, but only 120,000 are any good. Reds, 50,000 & Wei’s men, 70,000. Wei is to cross P.H. & go for T.P. (Like hell.) Still stalemate in 山西 (Shan-hsi.) New



fight due on the T.P. 7-800 prisoners taken at Tai Erh Chuang. Some suicided. Ch. casualties perhaps 20-30,000. (?) Jap cas. reported as 20,000. Two jap divs. engaged. Itanami & Isoyo. (Itagaki & Isogai?) Wed Apr 13: Two trains in to-day – so may get out. Bought me a harmonica yesterday. – Fast train at 5:40 – air raid in P.M. Phooey. – Brocon (Doc.) from Kweiteh in. Going to Wu T’ai to do med. work for Reds. – Pulled out at 5. – Train left at 6:25. – A bastard in our compartment on a 3rd cl. ticket. Put up a squawk & for a time it looked like eviction, but his running dog slipped out & bought a ticket. Type of most abominably selfish chink. Farted all night. Bawled him out & yelled at him frequently. Went past T’ung Kuan in a hurry. Misty moonlight. Firing going on but of no account. Terrible night. – racket & chinks going in & out. Thurs Apr 14: At Ho Chia Chuang past Shan 州 (chou) at 7. Off at 8:15 after breakfast of cocoa, crackers & pineapple. Station to station stuff. Beautiful spring day. Cursed our bastard companion all the way to Mien Ch’ih. Lunch was canned chicken & Sian bread. Not so hot. – Went better after Mien Ch’ih. – few delays. – Lo Yang at 6. Cheng Chow at 11:25 – To Hsen Kai. – Train out at 3 A.M. – Beautiful moonlight ride. – The loess gullies, with their caves & houses stood out like carvings. Soft lights on trees. The lao pai hsing all in bed. Got some persimmon sugar at Szeshui. No trouble there. 195xx is in 90xxx. 75xx east of Loyang. 42 x prob. in 72xxx. Feng Chih An’s 77xxx still on So. bank (?) east of Loyang. Six divisions to be put over at Chengchow (?). 7xx & 12xx of 3xxx going across west of Loyang. They were at Niangtzekuan with 45xxx, 21xx, 17xxx ? 91xx? Kao Kuei Tze still in Shansi, 83xx (or 84xx) – 11th Route is 11th A. Q. Where has 75xx been? Delightful cool weather. Looks like big wheat harvest here. Fri Apr 15: Went to train at 2:30 A.M. Welcomed by porter. “Haven’t seen you for 6 months.” – Got the lower in a 2-bunk compartment. Alone. Yen Ch’eng at 7. Chumatien at 9. Small beggars dodging cop. SINYANG at 12 noon. 183 Div (?) – In at 6:30. – To Lutheran Mission. – Saw Dorn at YMCA. – (he’s living there.) – air-raid alarm during supper. – Talked – Read mail. Sat Apr 16: Breakfast at Mission. Saw amb. & Dorn at office. – Went over mail. – lot of letters. Sent query to W.D. about back-seating. Saw Carter on Luzon ref. radio. – Lunch with Jarvis. Flemings there. O.K. Going to move over. – Hot day. – Moved. Sun Apr 17: Etc. Dubbed around. Sent the radio to W.D. Got a snotty answer. Sent a quick reply. – Waited. – Saw one movie, went to lunch & dinner on Luzon – got measured for clothes, wrote letters, & piddled around the office. Carlson has made shorts by cutting off long khakis; he wears high shoes with them and his stockings hang loose. – Terrible. Miss Arquello’s house-warming. I was utterly ignored by Johnson, Crutchfield, Baboon, & Bumright, who cozied up & talked their own pettinesses over on the couch. Dorn, Weems, & I just sat.

Week of Apr. 17-24 – In speaking of moving around the country, the other day the amb. said “Of course, with the exception of Capt. Carlson,” & after a moment he looked over & saw me & tried to add, quickly enough “& Col. S.”. But it was clearly the afterthought. – Durdin tried to pump me. I wouldn’t pump. – Lefner said they could move 900 tons a day on the Canton R.R. out of Hankow.



Clemenceau story about his dream. (Couldn’t confess, because they couldn’t find a priest.) – Up to Fri. Apr. 22 no answer from W.D. On Thurs. saw “Wild Money”. Had talk with CHOU EN LAI & A. Smedley. Dubbed along till Saturday when the nasty W.D. blast came in. Got off a calm answer to the bastards. – Ordered Fisher & Mattice to Hankow. Said Johnson wants Roberts in Hankow also. – Saw “Lost Horizon”. – Terrible. – Got clothes finished – ($50) & ($28). Sun Apr 24: To train in rain. – CHIEH YEN – Waited in hotel. Big shots from north in for conference. – The jam buying tickets. – Got on & pulled out at 8. – Raw & raining. Slept till nearly 3 P.M. (Wu Sheng Kuan). 54A at Kikungshan – Slept till 7. Chow. 13 troop trains ahead of us. Will be all night to Chengchow. Mon Apr 25: Chengchow at 8. Went to new China Travel & then to Leüers’ for breakfast. Carlson & Fleming, there. Group of Ch. newsmen in town en route to Hsüchow. (Norman, Sung, News-reel Wang, Yao, (Central), Cheng (Fewire) & Chang (?), Durdin & Warren, Australian. Horned in, got stuff to station – (2 air alarms) – & got on a military train at 10. (3rd Div. going to Hsüchow.) – Pulled out at noon. Kaifeng at 4 – Then long wait till next morning. Cold night. – sat & couched & dozed. Tues Apr 26: Dawn near Huang 口 (k’ou), then good time to Hsüchow. Got to Hua Yuan Hotel at 1 P.M. Room reserved & Mr. Pao there to chao tai. – Had dinner with the gang. Usual struggle to pay. – Pleasant weather, dam glad of my wool drawers & fur coat. Belden here – staying with Doc. McFadyen. Says 40 divs. here. Sun Lieng Chung has 15 & is in command at front. Japs have pushed back south leg of the L to within 10 miles of Lung Hai – 13th A. badly punished. – 3rd Div. goes to 59th A. Linyi lost a week ago. – Chao tai’d by PAO & CH’EN. Kidnapped for theater – war plays. – Good acting. Wed Apr 27: Went to hospital to arrange code for Belden. Then to ssü ling pu. Saw Li. Excellent impression. Sui pien. Pao translated. Li will send me in car with guide to-morrow A.M. Whoops – Straightened out Carlson’s status. (M.A. again.) Ching pao constantly. Fine



weather. Lunch for 28¢ on Main St., 10¢ tip brought an alma mater yell. – Belden in. Got wires off. 6 P.M. to Li’s for dinner. Only the staff there. Long talk with Li about Europe, U.S., Eng., etc., etc. Pai came in after we started chow. (Pai, Li, Hsü, 2 other generals, Pao & I.) Li took me to theater afterwards. Good acting. – As I dropped off at hotel, Li said “Be ready at 5 or 6 in the A.M.’ O.K. (Got some hot stuff off the map while we were talking.) Thurs Apr 28: Up at 5 & ready at half past. Ch’en the slicker came at 7:30. – Then I found the newsboys were to go. Shit. Sent word to Belden, & had to hold the car almost by force. Durdin said “How come Belden was included? He finally came. Then the ching pao & 15 (30?) planes gave the town a bad bombing. About 100 were dropped. We moved out & saw the action at the East Station. Just the poor lao pai hsing & their mud houses. Woman with her leg blown off & dying. Man under the broken stones from the wall. Several lying in the street. Wounded streaming blood going for help. A fire going – firemen working on it. Hand it to the Chinese, the police, the fire-men, the swastika society, all moved right into the bombed district & went to work regardless of another alarm. Our damn chauffeur got the car stuck right at the RR station, trying to turn around. At the very moment when what we wanted was a little speed getting out. Got around the fire & went to Yü Hsueh Chung’s P.C. (YEN TZÜ P’U) expecting to find Sun there. Ate lunch at Yü’s expense – Then went up to T’ai erh ch. The two old people were still there – not another soul except soldiers. 44th Brig. the garrison. Our house in town not damaged. Evidence of hand to hand scrap everywhere. Walked all around the town. (Pictures of Grand Canal in the Macartney book?). The 44th has lined the north wall & the east wall. It looks exactly like the old pictures of Vicksburg. The town looked like France in 1917-18. It must have been an interesting place – the south wall is right on the Grand Canal. Bridge built on junks by the Chinese to get across just west of town & the north bank lined with foxholes – Still odorous in spots but the dead all cleared. Went back & finally located SUN LIEN CHUNG – (P’A T’OU SHAN) a second edition of Feng Yu Hsiang, – big & burly. – Made us wait before seeing him. Invited me back again. – Left the crowd of newsboys & came back with Belden. They are scraping already & it would be hopeless to try & stick along with them. About 100 lao pai hsing killed here to-day. Fri Apr 29: PAO in – told him to get busy on P’ei Hsien. He will make date with Ch’ih (31xx) today. Went to Ma’s, Belden still in bed. Had some coffee. Ching pao again. On way back met 閔 (Min) (Pai’s mi shu), that I had met in Nanning. Had quite a talk with him. He says 500,000 K.H. troops have been mobilized. (19th A. is along Kuangtung coast.) 1,500,000 militia have been trained. All Kwang Hsi troops in north are in Anhui. Says Japs will cut L.H. to open Lien Yün Kang & make junction with force in Kiangsu south of R.R. Then attack Hsüchow. – Japs have asked for 8 more divisions (?). Saw CH'IH at 4. Talked till 6:30. Absorbing story of 台 (T’ai) erhch. affair. Ch’ih put up a remarkable performance. Wrote on it till 11 P.M. Ch’en woke me up at 12 to ask where I wanted to go? As soon as I was asleep again a telegram came from Dorn (12:30 A.M.) Only No. 5 rec’d. to date. Apr 30: Squawked at tel. office. No soap, of course. Sent no. 7. – Sheng in with news of capture of T’an Ch’eng. He says T’ang En-po there. – A Chinese hotel is one continuous racket, day & night. Howling over the phone, screaming for hot water & what not. Bawling each other out – Halls full of sleeping figures, – no one seems to hear a thing. First man up usually 4 A.M. begins to talk & yell and get a ch’a fang. – Never any idea about disturbing anyone else. Make



all the noise you want to – it’s O.K. – Ching pao at 10. – Wrote on Taierhchuang – Drew maps. Had lunch at Min Chung T’ang with Cent. News Li Kai Ming, Kolopinsky, Pao, Sheng etc. & Kolo’s conk. Then looked over Doc McF’s car & drove it around. Called at GHQ. Saw Pao. No soap. Chinese newsboys going out. – Wrote a letter to Li asking for a pass. – Had a bath – Bought two candles & some Chi tan kao. – When I was getting the chang kwei te to address my letter to Li Tsung-jen, there must have been at least 10 huo chi looking on & giving advice, all talking at once with their heads almost on the envelope. – And when he had finished, they all said “Ah” & smiled, & said he was a great writer. – 25¢ for a bath. I offered the attendant a mao as a tip, & he thought I was trying to pay short, & nearly took my life – Then when I paid up & still offered him the mao, he was down & out. But he finally took it. Tomorrow is MAY 1. Sun May 1: 21 & 42xx mentioned in T’an Ch’eng affair. Newsboys are back from Taierhch. – Green goats here. – Dyed for identification. Little Hsü (shih ch’en) gave a dinner at a swell Paris restaurant. He made a speech deprecating the food etc. Said the cook was no good, & the food very poor. The chef sued him, & he had to pay damages. Speaking of Marshal Foch in highly complimentary terms in his speech he said, “八面為風” (pa mien wei fung) (wei fêng).” The interpreter translated it as “farting in 8 directions”. – Had chow with Doc. McFadyen. Doc Kuan, of No. 27 Chengchow surgical unit there. – 20,000 thro. Chengchow April 1-20 – 10,000 since. Practically all from Taierhchuang. No word from Pao. Mon May 2: Went to see Pao. Not in yet (?). Wire from Dorn dated 30th @ air raid. Wrote. – They are just letting me sit. No writing paper in town. Cigarettes going up. – Read Doc McFadyen’s Digests. Sent wire & letter to Dorn. Went to Doc’s to return books. Had strawberries. To East Station to see wounded. About 200 on platform. Not a peep out of them, just sitting there quietly, waiting – More being carried over on stretchers. Brown says why not send walking cases to nearby places instead of all the way to Hankow & back. Common sense. Rumor that all is not well at Hanchuang altho. press was told it was O.K. Quiet except there & T’an Ch’eng. No progress at latter place. – Pao came in at 9 P.M. No soap. He is now on the Min Chung Tung Yuan wei yuan Hui. – Ch’en will handle me. Christ. Tues May 3: Read all A.M. – About 50 heavy bombs – 2 to 2:30. Pao in at 3. Went over Taierhchuang. Checked. Pao hinted I’d better go see Ch’en Kang. Did so. The bastard had just been sitting on his ass, ignoring me. Bunk about “important people & proper chao-tai.” Can’t go to T’an Ch’eng. Only Han Chuang & P’ei Hsien. Said O.K. – anywhere. – So – Got a look at a 1/50,000 map of Taierhchuang area & checked my maps. – Pao & Ch’en called at 9 P.M. Not fixed up yet. I insisted on to-morrow, but Ch’ên will double-cross me if possible. Wed May 4: Worked on Taierhch. & finished. No word from that bastard Ch’en. – Finally, in he came. O.K. can go to T’ang En-po. Leave at 4 – Went around to 13th A pan shih ch’u & saw Col. Ma (ching pao). Met the fu kwan (Chia) & back to hotel. Got stuff over to Ma Taifu’s – sent wire & letter, pd bill ($32 +) & went in rickshaw to the Bank of China – a small arms dump now. Sat on my ass for 3 hrs. Left by truck (am) at 7 – dead for sleep all way. – Yün Ho at 11. – Carried bundles 47 miles to Chia’s place. Had tea – Then walked 47 miles more to T’ang’s Hqrs. Crossed Grand Canal at midnight. C. of S. woke up & chao tai’d me.

The little jap prisoner in Hsüchow at 13th A place. Sad looking warrior. No barber could be found who dared cut his hair. Might be called a hau chien. At the Bank of China they



brought in a poor beggar accused of “signalling Jap planes.” – He was still tied to a post when I left. – Belden saw a soldier kill a man who was carrying a white bundle when his train was bombed. “Hau chien.” Thurs May 5: Routed out to come to breakfast about 6:30. Got there & found T’ang & staff waiting. T’ang very cordial. After chow sent me up in car to 52nd (Kuan). Plane over. Bombed a cart just ahead of us. (Three mules & 2 lao pai hsing). Saw Kuan. Gave me 2 flags. Saw my 1917 loading magazine on a Jap L.M.G!!. On to 25th Div Hqrs. (CHANG). – Then by horse to Brig. Hqrs. then up AI Shan to O.P. Like Montsec. Only tit on a wide plain. Watched the Japs digging. – Saw a couple of Jap batteries marching on road. Chinese have the hill well fortified. Japs will have a job here. Looked down on LIEN FENG SHAN – defended by (1 regt.). 600 of 25xx. Mar 21-25 – Japs had ½ the town – Ch. other half. Ch. have since withdrawn. 500 Ch. killed out of 600. Back to LÜ PU. (Crippled New Zealand woman, Miss Wilkinson, there.) Caught in heavy rain. Soaked. Back to 52nd Hqrs. & then to Yün Ho. Changed & ate & to bed. Met Belden at 52nd Hqrs & he came back with me. Fri May 6: Men of 196xx of 90xxx here at Yün Ho – Six bombs on us at 6:30 A.M. Overcast. Had breakfast with C. of S. Swill. Chop-smacking par excellence. Went back & made cocoa. Wrote up dope. (Dressing yesterday, with 3 chao tai-ers standing oggle-eyed within 3 feet of me.) Christ. – Ai Shan all same Montsec. (Ch’en the officious cit, pseudo military off., stopped Belden from taking a picture.) (Kolopinsky at Brig. Hqrs.) Mad race thro. the rain back to xx Hqrs. My nag tried to lie down in the river. – Told Miss Wilkinson she had no business up there. She asked me to take her with me! I said No, emphatically. – 馬車 (ma ch’e) – Munitions in & wounded out by truck. Chow in by ma che & wheelbarrows near front. Jap rifle grenade throwers sighed to 600 m. – Several to a company. – Had chow with C. of S. & he said the 46th A had cleaned up the 5 villages around Chih Chuang. Also that he did not want to cross the I R. to the N.W. but would attack N.E. (They may be going back to Linyi.) – Decided to go to Fan’s 46th A as soon as road is dry enough. – P.M. walked along Grand Canal. Cormorant fishing – birds free. Back for chow. (Bombs hit just outside our gates this A.M.) – Had a talk with Yao ts’an mon @ Nankow. (“hen t’ung hsin.”) Suddenly in came WAN (C. of S.), & said they were moving at once & we’d have to go back to Hsüchow. So – (Mr. Ch’ang Kiang, (Yangtze R.) the star chino reporter also left, so maybe it was bona fide.) Off by car at 8 P.M. – lost the road, on again – In at 12:30 A.M. Hua Yuan Hotel. The Rat’s room. Sat May 7: Up & got chow. The RAT came in & talked loud, fast, & close to my face. God damn him. I mustn’t go to Ma’s because it wouldn’t look right. The ssü ling pu wouldn’t be chao tai’ing properly, etc. etc. Went to Ma’s – (Durdin in. – Had some dope. Liu Ju-ming here, 2 divs. offensive planned N.W. from P’ei Hsien – about to go. Feng Chih-an in Kweiteh. Shang Chen shifting E. of Kaifeng.) C.N. told Belden Japs now N. of Tsao Lao Chi. Kwangsi troops (131 – 135?) behaved badly. First fight. Nansuchow bombed Thurs. Cath. Mission (It.) destroyed. 400 + killed. – Hung Ch’iang Hui raising hell in area N. of Yellow R. opp. Chengchow. One Jap det. cut off by 2 mi. wide mud stretch – irrigation ditch diverted. Tanks sent out. Lao pei hsing cut road behind them. And then cut road behind 1st Det. Hell of a time. Hung Ch’iang hui got 14th Div balloon; pushed truck into quicksand. Everybody has a gun & it’s a field day. Jap motors stopped running. However, trains on P.H. to Anyang. – Durdin in again. Wrote stuff up.



Sun May 8: Finished stuff for Dorn. Sent no. 13. Nansuchow badly bombed again. Bummed & read. Belden suddenly off for Hankow. Sent Taierhch. etc. to Dorn by him. Mon May 9: Continual ching pao. Papers dropped by japs warning Hsüchow it will catch hell to-day. At the ssü ling pu, I found I could not leave the town. Old Fat, the chief fu kuan, was polite but firm. This is possibly the result of Steele’s affair; rumor is that somebody gave the japs information. – Old Fat was reticent till I said japs should attack from Tsining → Kweiteh. It was his idea, too, & appar. what is expected. He says 5 new jap divs. are coming in & that they intend to take the Tsin Pu R.R. – Brown says wounded out average 1000 a day. (Too high) – 600 M.P.’s now keep order at trains. At last there is a Shang Ping Kuan Li Ch’u now, after 10 mos. to look after the wounded – their papers, pay, behavior etc. – Committee meeting of the 徐州 (Hsüchou) Kuei Chi Nan Min So. They think I got them the $5000. (Cot, Gariépy, Browns, McF. & Greer). Tues May 10: About decided to go to Shang Chen. (Duststorm) – Read. Bad bombing this A.M. One 800 lb. dud. 400 lao pei hsing – about 50 bombs west & south of E. station. P.M. saw Ma at 13th Ping Chan, & Pao at Min Chün Tung Yuan. Pao came clean – orders from C.G. to run everybody out. Asked him about train Wed. night. – Going to 32nd A. – Went to load wounded with P’eng Mu-shih – Only about 300 to-day. – Methods getting better – Mats, piss pots, boiled water, attendants, all provided. Never a sound out of the wounded – perfect quiet all along the train. – Religious argument with Doc. Greer. Kidded her about the Virgin Mary – and she a doctor! She said “Have you been saved?” (I said “Shit” under my breath.) Their $18,000 church damaged. Wed May 11: Routed out at 6 by heavy-foot the coolie-cook. He has a heavy voice & always uses every ounce of power when he speaks. The doc’s meals are terrible, – always the same slop. But coffee thank God. – Japs came in after A.A. guns to-day – dived & bombed. Something should be done for Hsüchow – pursuit & guns. (They claim 5 Ch. planes were there, & got one jap. Must have been on 1st ching pao – when I saw them weaving, overhead.) Bad bombing in relays, all morning. Around E. station 2 to 3000 chien destroyed. Dr. Greer’s church a mess. About 400 LPH killed. – Pao called & brought wine. The Rat came & I insisted on going to-night. Went out with McF., Greer, Miz Brown & Wilkinson to see the church. After Chow Ch’en the Rat came & I went to the train. A fu kwan got me on – bed & everything. Crowd on train. Exodus has started. Left at midnight. Filipino newsboy in with me. Thurs May 12: Ching pao at 8. Delay till 10. No planes. Held till 5 P.M. by repeated ching paos. Hot day. Not a plane showed up. Had 2 shao pings & cocoa. Somewhere near Tangshan (west) all day. Fri May 13: Woke up at Lan Feng. About 30 miles E of Kate. 5 A.M., ching pao. Now I suppose we’ll stay here all day. Yes. 8 troop trains coming thro. We wait. Hot, with a strong S.W. wind. Dust & dirt. No food. Water tastes like castor oil. Jap plane circled low about 8 A.M. (Had a can of fruit. Getting a bit hungry.) Finally night came & we moved at 3 A.M. to Lo Wang about 20 li.



Sat May 14: Up at 5 & had chocolate. Was about to start for Kaifeng by wheelbarrow; but saw a 32nd A. lad who said Polo now at K’ao Ch’eng. Wheelbarrow man refused to go. So now what? (Window prop is a human thigh bone I found at Lan Feng. Dropped the leather headrest out night before last.) – 40 planes got after Kaifeng on Thurs. (R.R.) Ching pao of course. Pulled out at 10:15. Got to Hsung Lung at 11:30. – Lan Feng bombed to-day – could hear it from Lo Wang. – Finally announced train would not leave till Sunday A.M. & maybe not till night. Got wheelbarrows & hiked 10 mi. into Kaifeng. The God damn train passed us after we’d gone 12 kiloms. Jesus. We got there & jammed aboard another train which jiggled out about 10 P.M. Sun May 15: Christ what a night – Jammed in, no room to rest. We got to Chengchow at 6 A.M. & just as we entered the station the damn siren went. Took to the woods – nothing came. – Went to China Travel & ate. Oatmeal, eggs, cha mo kan’rh, & cocoa. Sent a wire to Dorn – Chengchow is sure dead. Everything shut. – Bombs have been dropping all over town. 10 on Ayre’s plant. To Ayre’s for lunch. Ching pao again. False alarm. Liu Chi’h has the 166th north of Yellow R. & so. of Ch’in, only area not taken over by the 8th R.A. – 1200 wounded at Loyang. Japs confined to Tao-K’ou RR. The 108th Japs (Sakai) were licked in S. E. Shansi by the Reds & pulled into Poai. The Red Spears ran them out of Tsiyuan – (“Battle of the mud.”) & afterward attacked Huaiching – Badly cut up – retired & beaten up by guerrillas. They had anticipated regular army plans. – Jap 108th sucked out of Huai Ching & caught on both flanks. – lost 200 out of 400, & ran back into town. Crestfallen – Sakai complained bitterly that they had defeated the Chinese repeatedly, & yet the Chinese kept on fighting. No fair. – Read Crow’s book – Haircut – Chow at Ayres. – Ceiling fell in on Hanky. Chewed the rag. Hotel at 11.



Mon May 16: Station at 12:30 A.M. – muddle over tickets. Gypped on lower berth – one of the googs got it. At Yen Ch’eng about 8. (Small & medium tanks going north, about 4 each type. Trucks, repair outfit, etc. Hua Yuan Fan Tien is flat. Also 3000 more chien & 7-800 people in Hsüchow. Appar. japs are going to level Hsüchow & Chengchow. So. of Sinyang, 10 cars of barbed-wire going north. Got in at 7:30. Dorn there. Went to Y.M.C.A. & saw Fisher & Mattice. To An Li house for night. Tues – Wed May 17, 18: Caught up. Clothes altered, etc. Saw Bodieu. Thurs May 19: Had the Germans for dinner, 19th – Fine party – Got money, etc. Radioed Peking. All set to start. Fri May 20: Dinner with ambastardor. Sat May 21: Visa – Packed – Out. Train off at 2:20. (Dorn & Fisher left for N. at 7:40 A.M.) – Chinese flop at Hsuchowfu. Blah air-raid on Nagasaki. In with Fr. naval officer – Pépin – extremely polite. Lieut. De Vaisseau. Sun May 22: Just past Yochow. Held up by troop trains going N. 54th A – 55 Div – 7 R.D. – Some art. – Then 52 Div. & 190 Div. Reached 長沙 (Ch’ang Sha) at 4:00 P.M. – left at 5:00. (230 ? kil. in 27 hours) (300)?. Chuchow at 8. Mon May 23: Just passed Hengchow. Cloudy, cool. They have had heavy rains here. Still piddling. About ½ way in two full days. – Better time to P’ing Shek. – Rock on line. – Pretty trip down the river. At Lokchung they decided to run through. Left about 9 P.M. Moustiques. Tues May 24: Up early. Rainy. Line peppered with bomb craters. (1500 bombs on this line in 10 mos.) Got in at 8:30 – Went to consulate – Saw Linnell, Rice & Roberts. Peggy there. Grand reunion. Bath. – Lunch with Linnell etc. Talked with the Roberts till 5. – To train, – out at 5:50. – Beautiful ride across the inundated delta. Sheklung bridge O.K. (Had ripe lichees.) Speedy trip to Kowloon. Went to Peninsula Hotel (Matti.) Wed May 25: To consulate. Saw Southard. Delivered Johnson’s parcel. Paid postage bill, $38.06 mex. & got vaccinated. Saw McHugh. Walked. Changed $20 G. for 64 H.K. Back to hotel for boat reserv. Over again to shop (shoes & shirts), & see a movie. Back to hotel. Over again & got shorts, sox & belt. Back & saw Ritz Bros. Rainy night. (Ticket is £ 9 – not 5.) Thurs May 26: Wang Buzz Buzz called last night. Saw the Mattis – he has broken leg. Paid bill, got clothes & cleared out. The servants are a sticky pack of bandits with itching palms. On board at 11. Raj putana is 17,000 tons. Fine boat. Very few passengers. Big decks, everything ship-shape. Punk food. (Buy British, but for Christ’s sake, eat French.) Boat drill thorough & complete. No fudging as with us. Discipline is apparent. (All the stewards come from Goa.) – The contrast from N. of Canton & S. of Canton on the RR. K-C line well managed, good clean cars, prompt departure, fast run, good chow, clean stuff for sale in quite a variety – li-chees, oranges, bananas, packaged crackers, cakes, etc. Good food – and on the Chinese lines.–!!



Pulled out at noon. Ships in harbor had flags out. (for Harbord?) Evident improvement in H.K. defenses. – Bought 5 silver dollars for But. Fri May 27: (24th news of German advisors being recalled.) (BAD.) Warmer to-day. – Probably what makes the Scotch good fighters is their diet of Scotch oatmeal. After swallowing this mixture of turpentine, quinine & sawdust for a few years they get mad at the whole world. – The limies are the worst cooks in creation. The number of ways they can spoil good chow is simply unlimited. Good bacon & ham, pretty good meats generally, but vegetables – soggy or dry or over cooked. – terrible. And desserts – just leathery German pancakes, or dry bread pudding with wall-plaster sauce or some such abomination as “Bubble & Squeak.” (Such a cute name you know!) – It makes my neck ache to go into a dump like the Peninsula Hotel – marble columns, high ceilings, palms, brass work, & large open spaces, – & order food. Two slices of toast come in on a silver dish big enough to take a bath in. And the toast is thick, tough, & cold. The oat-meal is already hardened around the edges, tastes like shellac, & amounts to two spoons full. “Cold cut of chicken” is on the menu at $1.70. Two mangoes – warm – cost $1.00. Coffee is 40¢ a CUP. And the head waiter looks you over austerely to see if you have on the right clothes. Had a nap. Land to port. Islands. Sat May 28: Fog & showers. Did 700 miles up to noon to-day. 118 to go. Fog stopped us till 5:30. Chusan Islands. Picked up pilot. Sun May 29: Up at 4:30. Sunrise going up river. Little damage visible from boat. Off at 10. Hagen met me. To A.C. To 4th near Hqrs. & wired Mattice about the unreadable W.D. radio. NOW WHAT? Walked back to A.C. & got a bath. To movie. At 5:15 “radio is at consulate.” Well anyway, they didn’t yell “Get the hell back to Hankow!” I just have to explain “purpose of my trip”. O, shit. To Hagens’. (Dr. & Mrs. Dunlap. Boones, a Capt. McDonald & wife.) – To French Club for dinner. Saw Lockharts there. Mon May 30: (“What xx are in Hangchow area?” “No-o-o, I don’t know that, but I can tell you – (low voice) – that Lo-something or other is in command of guerrilla operations there.”) H. knows nothing but the boom-boom side of it. “Buzz-z-z-z” of the planes & the light of bursting shells etc. – (N.G. type.) – O, well – KMA boat full. Got on the “Shuntien” – Tues. 10 A.M. Got cholera certificate. Haircut. Boones’ for lunch – (Powell, Keen & dames.) Hagen don’t know nuttin! Boone much better informed. (B. says 200,000 in Sh’ai area, H. says 2 divs.) – Saw Lockhart. Radio from Barrett – same stuff in it. Tues May 31: Got flowers for Hagens & Boones. Hagen came & took me to boat. Chewed the rag. The “old N.G. soldier” stuff. Off at 10:30. Hot. Good boat. No room-mate. I am at the foot of the 1st off.’s table. – 3 days to go. – Jap freighter sinking off YangTze. Also empty life boat & wreckage further on – just at edge of brown water. – Doc Hopkins & daughter aboard. Talked till 10 with them. Wed June 1: Cool & brisk, Tsingtao at 4. Out at 6:30 P.M. Pretty place. Radio to Nance $14.49! She’d prefer the dough; we’ll see.



Thurs June 2: Wei-Hai-Wei at 8:00. Better harbor than I thought. Br. cruiser there. Also jap destroyer, looking like a foul bird of prey. Left at 11:00. Chefoo at 1:00. More foul looking jap ships. Dried prawn season. Strawberries for lunch. Out at 4. Fri June 3: In at 8 A.M. & fiddled till 3:30 train. Reached Peking at 8:30. – Met by girls at station. Tues Aug 16: Celebrated Win’s birthday. Wed Aug 17: Got notice – Packed up & left on 8:15. Tientsin at 11:45. To Imperial. Dropped my watch & struggled till 1 A.M. over it. No luck. Thurs Aug 18: Got a new crystal in my watch & went to tender. 9 A.M. off. Big development in new factories down river. Port lousy with Jap shipping. Hot ride to Tangku. “Shengking” lying almost at mouth of river. Arr. 1 P.M. Left about 6 P.M. (Lt. Cooper, room-mate.) Fri Aug 19: Copper is language stude. Not as bad as he looks. Chefoo at 11 A.M. – Wei Hai Wei at 3 P.M. Rounded the cape at sun-down. Sat Aug 20: Tsingtao at dawn. Routed out at 5:30 for jap doctor’s inspection. Augusta here. Also a foul looking jap armored cruiser. Afflecks getting off. He’s a typical limie consul – general – (Navy wife drooling about the “active service” & terrible perils of the Yang Tze.) Out at 3 P.M. Sun Aug 21: Muddy water again. Woosung at 5:00. Docked at 7:00. Wild scramble on decks. Customs inspection! The fat Russian Jew got mad & had to open everything. I pulled a card & opened nothing. To American Club – Bath & bed. Mon Aug 22: To C.P. Co. – Emp. of Russia – Forgot passport. Back again. $54 U.S. No change! Had to give them 50 gold & 23.44 mex. (Big company!) Saw Betty Gluck who raved over the family. Wired for air ticket via Am. Ex. – Saw Lockhart. Gave Ferguson the letters. Lunch with Lockhart at club, (Telegram @ the suppression of Red orgs. at Hankow. First split in pop. front.) – Looked for Hagen – Out. – Saw bum movie – J. Barrymore over-doing his stuff. Left A.C. at 6 after battle over bill. – Charged me 2 days for 22 hrs! Tender packed. Aboard the Russia at 7. Chow with 1st off. & a Mr. Kearney. – Married Teddy Dillon’s sister! Engr. chem. Tues Aug 23: Down-stream at 4 A.M. Good chow on these boats. Nance should be in Vancouver. With 1st off. & Mr. Harney for chow. Harney is chem engr. (Purdue) – married Teddy Dillon’s sister. Knows the japs. Bummed all day. Marx brothers movie.

Note on education: Why not use school teachers to conduct short weekly/daily conference on world events. Anyone can come in. Maps kept posted. Short talks. Q. & A. After working hours, so that anybody can come in. Use schools or other public bldgs.



Wed Aug 24: (This ship is 17,000 tons – does 18 knots – Two days to H.K.) Couple of Navy kikes aboard. One goes to Hankow to “Luzon,” (McVeagh). Unimpressive. Hot to-day. Bingo in evening. Thurs Aug 25: In at dawn. Roberts came aboard. Escaped with $5 mex tips, but they did not like it. Bags to hotel. Went to Am. Ex., got tickets, turned over suit case & papers to counsel. Lunch with Roberts – a Scotch affair in the A&N Club. – Talked. – Back to Peninsula Hotel.

The C.N.A.C. plane was shot down by the japs yesterday. They thought SUN FO was on it. He had changed to Eurasia. Now will they go after the Eurasia plane? I believe not. Anyway, the RR is cut & I must go on to Hankow. And it is most direct by air. So there I am. – Peck is here, with the wind up about plane travel. He thinks I am crabbing his act by going. He is reporting the danger as too great & is going around by Yunnan. I am satisfied that the japs were after Sun Fo only, & that they will leave the German plane alone. In any case, mei yu fa tzu for me. – Baggage limited to 20 kilos unless total weight is not taken up. Not much hope for my stuff. No help through consulate. – Roberts thinks Peck has gone soft in the head.

7 P.M. over for dinner at H.K. Hotel, for Roberts. Talked till 11:30, back & shaved. Pd. bill.

Fri Aug 26: Up at 5:00, & off to field at 5:45 – Air France, Imperial Airways & Eurasia all there. Newsboys with headlines “Japan warn all planes”. Very reassuring. – Off at 7:00 – at 6000 feet, to Hunan near Hengchow, then at 3000 on in. Stop at Changsha. Raided yesterday. At Wuchang at 11:30. Hot as hell. Customs, & then to river. Went to “Luzon” with navy & then to consulate. Bunking in on Josselyn. Lunch, unpack, bath – Talked to Dorn. – Rained. Wired Peking & W.D. Turned in early. Sat Aug 27: Thunderstorms. Scott, Steele, Bosshart in. Lunch with Dorn, Davies, & Doc. Brown, & Josselyn. Saw the “Buccaneer” – battle of N. Orleans good. – Sun Aug 28: Office. – Josselyn’s lunch for Navy crowd. Cocktail party, Fr. club for Navy crowd. Dorn, Jos & I went to Rosie’s. Carlson & Utley there; Carlson had on a white suit! Mon Aug 29: Office. Roussel in. May go to Nan Ch’ang with him on 3rd. Ts’an Wen Chung in with SCOOP on the Big Push. I hope it’s true. – False alarm air raid. – Saw Hollywood Hotel – terrible. Oatmeal $2.40. Tues Aug 30: False alarm. Up early. Office. Shopped. Chow at Rosie’s. No word from W.D. Wed Aug 31: Office as usual. Waiting for action. Can’t get hold of anyone. Godown. – Hot. – Back at lunch. Telegram about Nance. 9/9 Thurs Sept 1: Date with Li. No answer from W.D. except through Barrett. – Called on LI TSUNG JEN. He was most pleasant. Had an operation on jaw – old wound. Is at Wuhan Sanatarium on East Lake. About an hour’s talk. He says I can go to front when he goes back. Li is a good egg. – Hot as the hinges of hell. – P.M. to “Luzon” to dinner. The admiral ran off at the mouth – so did Lovat-Frazer. Terrible. Home at 1 A.M. A hell of a typhoon blew up & the temperature dropped 30o.



Fri Sept 2: Very cool to-day. Calls Hsü Pei Ken & Hsi En Sui. Hsü is a Rude Bastard – read a paper during call, left room twice, made no move to sung us. – No dope. Hsi is a good egg, though. – P.M. Boy woke me up 8 P.M. I was due at Rousselle’s! Got there in 10 minutes with Adm. Holt. Lucky meeting. – Played 21 till midnight; Adm. wouldn’t go home. – He’s a bore, too. Sat Sept 3: With Hsi to see Hsü Yung-chang & Hsuing P’in. Good eggs. Checked on jap divs. Very pleasant call. Contrast with Hsü Pei Kên. P.M. called on Yeh Ch’ien-ying. He’s a good egg, too, like most Reds. Very frank & direct. Nobody is worried about the situation. Saw “Capts. Courageous.” Dinner at Rosie’s. Sun Sept 4: Off for Yangsin. Lovat-Frazer, Rousselle, Dr. Hamilton (Br. Navy), Dr. Gommerand (Fr. Navy) & I. Left Wuchang at 4:45. Reached Chang Fa Kwei’s headquarters at 11:15 – (165 kil.). String of s. & w. along road. From Tayeh east, all lao pai hsing is gone – Desolate & lonely. (Lot of 81xx e. of Wuchang. 53rd A going east.) Slept at 2nd G.A. hqrs. – turned in 12:30. Mon Sept 5: Up at 5:30 – out at 6 – cars at 7. Went into Yangsin. Beautiful location on lake – all bombed to hell. Cath mission with Am. flag flying – houses both sides hit. Japs caught about 500 soldiers in the town concentrated – Total killed, 2000. – Still stinks. Back to hangout for chow. Saw Chang Fa Kwei – sick with Hong Kong foot. Very pleasant guy, not worried. Kuan Lin Cheng is up front. (52ndAC – 36A) (?) The 81st D ran at Ma T’ou Chên & the 52 A blocked the hole. Arrangements to send some gassed men back for us to see. – Shipped Rousselle back to Wuchang. – More walla walla about gassed cases. Frazer got mad & bawled out the fu-kuans. Tues Sept 6: Fine day, climbed the mountain & got wide view of Yangsin position, All the way to the Yangtze – 2 mile flat on west side, then hills – 500-800’ – Ex. position. High hills on east side. Lake 1 to 3 mi. wide. One gas case came in 2nd Div. a M.G. p’ai chang. Looks like chlorine, but not proved. – Arranged to go to 52nd A. – Off at 6:30 – Frazer, Hamilton & Gommerand took truck. I & 3 pings took Buick. Met Mr. PAO at Yangsin, in charge of crossing. – 1 barge – no road around lake – He puts 12 trucks over every night, (12 each way). Terrible bottleneck. 4 hrs. Yangsin to 52ndA Hqrs. Kuan is sick – (ta pai tze) – malaria. Saw C of S & then turned in with General Huang, chief of 政訓 (cheng hsün – political training) section – Central News Hu here. Capa’s gang in at midnight. Stream of wounded along road. Improvised hospitals here & there. Some movement of troops in & out. Mostly out. Good defensive terrain. (This is 河定 (Ho Ting) something) Wed Sept 7: Planes over at dawn & from then on. Firing audible. Six guys with Capa. Had some cocoa. Tang En Po is west of here about 12 li. 25th CP @ 20 li forward. (Capa had 1 year in Spain & 7 mos. in China. Quite a guy.) – japs attacked on R & L of 32ndA this A.M. Lull by 9 A.M. Terrain like Nankow. Chinese should hold here – jap seaplane over at @ 200’ M.G.ing the road. After a few wounded, I suppose. (“Wild Eagles”) – Piddled all day. – At 5 went to see KUAN. – Talked over the gas business. Much ado @ nothing. Just tear gas. (Chang, 25xx CG confirmed this.) Sick – 20% or less. Divs. about 7-8000 now. 25th has men with only 2 wks. training, but they have done well. (Kuan says he can hold forever in this country. (Does he?))



Chinese have no art. – can’t haul it around these hills. No roads, only rocky paths. – Left at 6:15 for the 25xx C.P. – Arrived at 8:45 – Hard going & guide went astray. – Moonlight. Sights along the road – String of s. & w. – pack transport, coolies, exhausted men – curled up to die. – Welcome from Chang. Go forward? Sure. Kuan had said impossible. The nearer the front the warmer the welcome. Had a talk & chow. They got me bedding. Turned in at 11. Capa had citronella. All jake. Thurs Sept 8: Up at 7 – Bread & cheese for breakfast (by Capa). Mouldy bread but O.K. Sat around till 9:00 – Then off to the “front.” Hot as hell, & hard going. Climbed a high hill & got view to Ma T’ou Chen & along Yang Tze, to Juichang & south – Just a sea of rocky hills with scrub brush. – Could be held indefinitely. Had 2 ears of corn (“pao kuo”) & then staggered back to the C.P. – Pulled out at 3 P.M. & got to 52ndA at 5:00. Fagged out. Got some water & cocoa & figs – Then left for the car. Off at 6:20 P.M. Thought we might make Hankow by 2 A.M. (We really made TA YEH at 5 A.M.) Bomb crater in road and an 88 on its back. Went around & got to Yangsin after 3 holdups by shang pings – one en masses. Got to the lake at 9:30 – on the boat at 10:30 – off at 11:30 at Yangsin at 12 midnight. The truck ahead of us broke thru the gang plank & blocked us. This crossing is serious. One old 40’ launch & 1 lighter. About 4 trips a night towing junks. One bomb and the L.O.C. is cut. – A lot of assorted artillery coming out to the north of the lake. Why? Kwan & Chang say it can’t be used – but back of their present location it could. Fri Sept 9: It was 3 A.M. when I got rid of the wei pings & the fu kuan. Insisted on pushing for Tayeh. We killed a pig, & arrived at 4 A.M. Couldn’t find out about anything, nobody up. Nobody knew anything. – AND THIS IS NANCE’S WEDDING DAY. – Frigged around till 11 A.M. going here, going there. These god-damn people can “not do a thing” in more exasperating ways. If I hadn’t kept pushing we’d be there yet. Jesus Christ in the MTS! 7 hours to get gas – Frigged along for 10 mi & then the God damned car lay down on us. Holy Christ. – Finally fixed & we rolled. Oucheng, & chow, at 2 P.M. Out at 2:40. In Wuchang at 4 & in Hankow at 4:30. ROUSSELLE IS DEAD. Dysentery got him. Frazer has malaria. Dorn has gone – Fisher is sick, coming here. Sat Sept 10: Rousselle’s funeral. Mummery at church. Hiked to cemetery. Wire from home @ Nance. Movie. Sun Sept 11: Office. Fisher arrived. Dinner with Davies Bros. Belden sick at Kuling. Mon Sept 12: Office. Ts’an Wen Chung in. Press conference. (Capa, Fisher, Steele, Utley, Shenker, Davies, Sanson, Geo. Wang, Tong, Chi, Shu Pei Ken at the board. Dumb, in view of the events at Fuchinshan. Tues Sept 13: Europe? Hitler’s speech just mouthings of a madman. – Lunch with Hall. – To vil installations with Scott. Dorn arr. H.K. Wed Sept 14: Saw Gen, Wu Shih – Movie with Fisher. Chow at Y.M.C.A.



Thurs Sept 15: Haircut. Press conference. Did not go. Ching pao. Movie with Belcher Josselyn. Fri Sept 16: Dubbed. Sat Sept 17: Long walk around native city. Barricades & wire everywhere. P.M. dinner at mayor’s house by General Ch’ien. Ta-chün. “Our Admiral” blew off at the mouth. Ad Ch’en, Gen. Ch’ien. Adm’s gang, Mayor H. Tong, Joss. and I. Sun Sept 18: 7th anniv. of Mukden. Carlson & the Davies at lunch. – P.M. Davies – Fisher – Stennes for dinner. Mon Sept 19: 52ndA. staff in town – 52nd out, 2/3 casualties. Movie. Hot cakes at the Y. Looked for Lim & Mon – not here. Press conference. Tues Sept 20: P.M. Carlson’s dinner at Rosies. Belden back. – Worked all day with his stuff. Wed Sept 21: 2nd letter from Win. Lunch on Luzon. Guan fouled a ship coming in. Bum movie. – Lefler’s dope on Canton. Immediate attack. Thurs Sept 22: Date with Mrs. CKS. Very charming person. – Perfectly at ease, of course; highly intelligent; sincere. Pushed out a lot of propaganda about the way the govt. is looking out for the common people. She’s all right & doing a good job. Presented me with her book. – Rain. Chow at Rosie’s. Davies boys, Belden, Steele, the Fishers, Carlson & I. (48.00 + 12.00 + 2.00 = $62) Fri Sept 23: Office. – Drew $500. Bad rumors about breaks. Movie with Fisher. Still raining. Sat Sept 24: Flowers, $10; Godown $88. Air alarms. P.M. Dinner at 大孚 (Ta Fu) Bank, 徐培

根 (Hsü P’ei Ken), Hsi En-sui, Ts’an, & 徐 (Hsü). The Haikuan character – Good chow (K’ao3 tan omelet with mushrooms, pork, & sprouts.) Davies and Josselyn – Fisher sick. Sun Sep 25: Alarms. One raid outside city. Josselyn had lunch for Colin, Picot, Mitchell (S.O.), Fisher, Steele, Michaux, Carlson, Fisher, Whitamore. – Nap. Bum movie. Mon Sept 26: Weather has changed. Now it’s warm & sunny. Rotten sore throat, from that open-face cougher at the Victoria. Air-raid on air-field. Press conf. Called on Kuan Lin Cheng with Durdin, Belden & P. Chiang. Sutherland arrived. Tues Sept 27: Rotten head cold. Stayed in bed & bummed around. P.M. Party for Utley & Carlson at I Chiang Chun. Newsboys frolic. Wed Sept 28: Cold continues. Dubbed around. P.M. Holly Tong’s party for Carlson & Utley. Hsü Pei Ken absent. – Two bastardly radios from McCabe. (CARLSON & CONF. FUND)



Thurs Sept 29: Got the dope from the W.D.!! Also told to use my own judgment about personnel at Hankow. Sutherland & Fisher calmed me down & I held up asking for inspector. – Called on Hsi En-sui – He promised a map. – Belden has disappeared; since night before last. – Press conference. That little monkey Wu Shih denied capture of Tien Chia Chen, flatly. LIAR. Movie with Josselyn. Fri Sept 30: No news of Belden. Worked on back events all day. P.M. Dinner at Rosie’s with Sutherland, Fisher & Josselyn. EUROPEAN MESS SETTLED. Sat Oct 1: Visitors all A.M. Press & missionary. Worked on reports. P.M. saw “Hurricane.” Belden back. Sun Oct 2: All day, drudged on reports. Mon Oct 3: Drudged all day on reports. P.M. Rosie’s. Fisher, Joss., Suth. Tues Oct 4: FISHER left for Peking at 3 A.M. Air alarm – false. P.M. at Davies with CHOU EN LAI. Wed Oct 5: No “not convenient” for me to go to the front.” Christ. I’ll go to Shang Chen. Called on LIM – he will help. Saw “Last Days of Pompeii” with Suth. Alarms all day. Thurs Oct 6: No boat Sat. One on Monday. Landauer & Belden may go. Air alarms constant. Tsan in. Told him the Chinese must dislike me. – Ting’d a place on Monday boat for Ch’ang Sha. Turned in early – Terrible cold. Fri Oct 7: Go-down, 50 – Ticket 49 – Mess 140. – Drew $200, Oct. 7. “Luzon” for lunch. – Got ticket. 45,000 japs arr Chiu Chiang Sept 21-Oct. 4. Sat Oct 7: Landauer for lunch. Big argument on capitalism etc. Dubbed around. Long call from HSI EN-SUI, trying to placate me. Just a lot of soft soap. Thunderstorm during the night. Sun Oct 8: Mrs. Ferguson dead. Lunch at YMCA. Dinner at Juning’s Dump St. Roast pig. Josselyn is on; says I don’t like chow at his place. How true. Had Coca Cola at Y. – 95¢ a glass. Mon Oct 10: Packed & pecked. – Boat at 3. – Landauer & Belden aboard. Irish priest from Ching Shan, bombed when a new hsien magistrate name CHIANG came. Japs thought it was CKS. Aug. 29 over 50 pl. flattened the place. (Dream of M.A.S. & B.W.S., latter played guitar in big orchestra). – Report of big Ch. victory near Tehan. The “KUTWO” is very comfortable. – About ½ available space is taken by ship’s officers. Seasoned old sea-dogs peering about. Tues Oct 11: On board “Kutwo.” Slept till 8 A.M. Noon arr. CHENG LIN where we leave Yangtze. – 1 P.M. passed YOCHOW & entered TUNG TING LAKE. – About 5 P.M. in what looks like the river. (Landauer’s photos of soldiers beaten on back of thigh – Sianfu. – Meat hanging full of maggots. – One for theft. One for a man in his section deserting – (Pd. Josselyn



$40 – boy 10, coolie & odd exp. 10 – Luzon whiskey 16, Flowers 5, Flea bag 22, Boat ticket 49, tips, Total 93.) Anchored at dark. Wed Oct 12: Gray day. 長沙 (Ch’ang Sha) at 7:30. Had chow and went to Ya Li in Landauer’s car. To Red +, & saw Lim. No one knows anything. Grad. to-day. I am hooked. Reviewed the studes. Sat on platform, but refused to make a speech. Lim off for P’ing Chiang; jam of wounded. Wd. are raising hell again, grabbing off trucks. – Here, Dr. Greene, Schoyer & Miss Hutchison, nurse. Typical crowd. Punk chow. Japs at Bias Bay. Thurs Oct 13: To demonstr. at Red +. Damn good. Filters, delousers, latrines, incinerators, testing water, etc. etc. Then a field ex., – clearing wd. – Then to No.167 Hosp. (200 cases) mostly fractures. Landauer in for lunch. Chinese coolie chow. Raw & cold. Must change clothes. (J. near Huang Sh. Kang.) P.M. dubbed. Ch. dinner with Landauer, Belden, Jean Chiang, Smedley & Joan 王 (Wang) (Yu Tai Ho, 1921.) Couldn’t find HM’s house, so went to bed. Getting cold. Fri Oct 14: Drizzle. – colder. – Went & saw Lim. He at once came thro. with his car. Backed & packed. At 2 Mr. P’eng came. Off to P’ing Chiang in rain. Arr. 4:30. Went thro. hosp. no. 38. Pretty good shape. Red + unit, (Dr. Hsieh) 8 li from town. – afraid of bombs. Changed to amb. & got to Changshu at 7:30. Out to chow with Ch’ien (Dr.) & P’eng. Everybody on his toes. (3000 w in P’ing Chiang, 1000 in Changshu. Mostly light or minor. (20A has 133 – 20th G.A. has 13.). Ch’ien lost his watch down his pant leg. Call from the school master as I was going to bed. Burmese driver on ambulance. Terrain about as expected. Sat Oct 15: Had eggs with Doc Ch’ien. Then did the hospital. – Lad with the bulged leg. Many left hand w. Interesting old style town (Changshu). Not yet bombed. – @ 1000 w. Doc Wu in charge – introduced me everywhere. Conditions not at all bad. Big majority light cases. 10 A.M. shoved off by amb. for Hsin Shui. Arr. noon, chow & did the hosp. Dying man thrown out by his coffin. Flies on his eyes, still moving. @ 300 peng pings and Shang pings. – 10% dysentery & still 80% malaria acc. to Wu. (Doc at 良塘 (Liang T’ang) – 75 kms – 長沙 (Ch’ang Sha) to 評江 (Ping Chiang) and 65-70 to Hsin Shui. Went into 修水 (Hsiu Shui) at 4:30 and did No. 143. (“Dr.” Yang.) – Hosp. in 3 temples. Doc LIN from P.U.M.C., Red + man. Yang is dottering, no control & no idea of his job. Pings howl about bedding, Yang argued with them. All the way up from the river, he yelled at me @ G. Washington & Stimson etc. God, he was terrible. Hsin Shui is charming – clean river, hills, rocks, t’ing tze, etc. Old style place. – Big broad stone steps at river – Boats & boat bridge. Rambling streets. Very attractive. Not yet bombed. Chow in town. (Ch’ing shang-ti are moved along as fast as cars are avail. Chungshang stop at 1st place where Red + has units, & get operation. Then remain for indef. period & go to conval. hosp. when able.) 11D going out – @ 4000. 1 L.M.G. per co. No H.M.G., no guns. Men look good. Hosps. full of Sichuan lice. Back from Hsin Shui at 8 P.M. To Wuning to-morrow. Sun Oct 16: Slept at良塘 (Liang Tang). A.M. took a walk up the river. Pretty country. Roads at Hsin Shui being cut by lao pai hsing. Bridges doubled everywhere near 修水 (Hsiu Shui). Some 5 ambulances run from Hsin Shui to front. Behind the 2 or 3 ping chan i yuan are the R.S. & Red + hosps. at Hsin Shui, Changshu, & P’ing Kiang. Then to Changsha. – Went in to Hsin



Shui for chow. 4 alarms. Up to ting tze on hill. Beautiful views. Off at 4 P.M. Met Doc Lou just out of town & took him back to Pu Tien Chên. deserted little dump. New R.S. – Signs in jap on many houses. Walked to Wang Lin Chi’s Hqrs. 15 li. Bridges all burning – Road broken every 200 yds. or so. Looks bad. At the 30thA.G. C.P. met Wang & had coffee & corn fritters. Wonderful. Warm welcome. Sure we can go to Nanchang. Wang phoned @ it & got Hsueh Yueh. Disaster! Letter from Wai Chiao Pu? No? Then nothing doing. – Hell. – We can stick around here though. – Wang has been catching hell. (141 & 142 here, 50% losses – Also 133 – And his own gang.) 80% malaria. – Not so many wounded to-day. Doc Lou said 80% sick. Talked till 11 P.M. & walked till 12 getting to a billet – brand new house. LO TUAN – Turned in at 1 A.M. Mon Oct 17: The louse major was on our backs till we left for Wuning. – Right on the bed while we dressed. God damn him. Had cocoa & breakfast & Doc Lo came. To Wu Ning via tel. off. Wired Josselyn. Wuning a mess. Corpses in all conditions. Maggots & flies. One lad with mouth a mass of maggots & flies eating his eyes. Stinks. Worked our way over the ferry & stopped at No. 55 – then got lost & wandered for 2 hrs. $10 skags. $4 telegram. – 30 to 60 li from the front from Lo Chia & 30 li more to 甫田橋 (Fu T’ien Ch’iao). Wd. & sick, very quickest, 2 days. – Some come by boat, 1 day to Wuning. Too many hand wounds. Country infested with 四川 (Szechuan) lice looking for food. (Sweet potatoes mostly.) Flies are terrible. (@ 20 guns on this front. Do not fire in good weather. Planes spot ’em.) 16thxx said to be good. K. O. in 四川 (Szechuan)! – Japs kill all girls with bobbed hair! Leave the old-fashioned ones. – 失’s (Shih) name upside down at 修水 (Hsiu Shui). Four big dromes in 四川 (Szechuan). (Ch’eng Tu – Liang Shan – Suining – Sintu (?)) – Lunch at No. 55. (Red pepper.) Walked back thro Wuning. Slept at the Q.M. dump, – rice only, by boat, & came to LO TUAN by chiao tze. At the K’u, a typical lot of Q.M.’s. One interrupting bastard I would have liked to slap in the ugly puss. Doc Lo left for Pu 田 (T’ien) Ch’iao). – (No morphine at front. Heard some groans to-day. The bedding in 84, just beggar’s rags. – 5-6 hrs. stop there & then on). (8A here, 3D here, Part 141, 142, 14D at Ching Kou. Most of 30 A.G. S. of River. – Thank God, the pest art. maj. is not around. – (Just 3 wd. Ying chungs – 1 from 13N, 2 from 11. About 20 p’ai & hin chengs. Most off. rooms in hosps. were empty. The pest came in at chow time. Tues Oct 18: 28th ANNIVERSARY!! WAA! WAA! WAA!, (phone) WAA! Ring-Ring, WAA! God, how they can repeat. [Q: How many lice does it take to get one man-power to bear at the front? Think it over.] Spent entire day waiting for a goddamned k’o chang. The 司令 (ssu ling) pu is buzzing – probly. going to retire again. (10 skags) – At 4:30 took a walk. The K’o chang of course came at 4:45. After chow he returned. A complete & utter dumb bell & know nothing. Just the same old CRAP about “sao ch’u ch’u tze” etc. Christ. Wed Oct 19: 9 pl. over. 18th none, 17th @ 25-30. Did not stop or drop. (The 20,000 victory has dwindled to 2,000.) Stuck around waiting. 2:30-4:30 walked to near Wuning & back. (Road blocked). Met Chang K’o-chang of 27GA (Yang Sen) – Up to recon. – other units coming in. No wire yet. Thurs Oct 20: Chill. Doc Lo back. Went to Hqrs. & asked to go to a div. CP. Saw HAN 72nd chun chang. O.K. by him. Wang coming back to-night. Specked the map. – Walked 2 hrs. after



lunch. Pretty along river. 5 skags (additional), 4 telegram (asking for action.) Dr. Lo in, says 司令 (ssu ling) coming – will meet him & find out about us. Fri Oct 21: Wang S’ling did not come. – Mucho boom boom along front. Walked 5 mi. Doc Lo in. S’ling still at 修水 (Hsiu Shui). 明天來 (Ming T’ien Lai – will come tomorrow). Bad news – japs are at LO CH’EN (TSEN) CH”ENG, 100 kms from Canton. Teian has been taken. Japs at Pei cha on 修水 (Hsiu Shui). – NW Yung Hsiu. Sat Oct 22: No use staying. S’ling not back till 25th. No one here will do anything. Saw HAN TS’AN MOU CHANG. Very pleasant. Talked over the doings on the Juichang road. He says Eng. will back Japan now, citing Abyss. & Czechs. as proof. – Turns out to be a good egg. NO WIRE YET. (Han said total losses 75%, maybe about 50%. Going out now to refill.) Left Lo Tuan at 2:30 P.M. Fu T’ien Ch’iao at 4:15. (34 going in, & 135 coming. Runty – no H.M.G. Small cos. No guns. @ 200 rds apiece. A few Bergmans. 4 Brno. L.M.G.’s. – 30AG going to S. of Nanchang (8thA (3 and 15 (old)) around here. Also 3D). Yang Sen has arr. (134th at Ankung. Went back via Tsienshan and Taihu to Changsha.) – Bridge out – no car – phone, etc. Slept in the straw. (Dream showing Ben a big fish. He disappeared. I dived for him in a mess of tree roots. I thought “Thank God, I’m not afraid to do this”. *** Told me I made my big mistake when I did so & so. He was off me for life.) Sun Oct 23: S’ling did not come. Car either. We walk. Off at 8. NO! Car! From 修水 (Hsiu Shui) Lv. 9 – arr 修水 (Hsiu Shui) – 11 A.M 40 mi. 134 streaming in. @ 8 TMs, Bergmans, Brnos, no H.M.G. New rifles. Chang Shou at 3:10 – 65 mi. (105 from P’u T’ien). Terrain opens out into a plain 25 mi. west of 修水 (Hsiu Shui). “Stone Mt.” pattern. – 平江 (Ping Chiang) at 4:30 (37 mi.) & Changsha at 7:30 (70 mi). The bastard driver just ran the car in & walked off. Rickshaw to Yale. Sutherland in from Heng shan. I am rel’vd. May 24. O.K. Mon Oct 24: Air raid. Sandpiper bombed at but not hit, ex. fragments, McHugh here. Wrote. Intl. Red + gang from Hankow here. Tues Oct 25: Japs in Hankow. Shopped for present for P’eng Lin Ts’ai. Dinner at Hutchins. Doc. Green’s experiences in Turkey. (Greeks sold out to Turks in 1921 war.) (Smyrna Affair.) (Escape from Turks at Van in 1893. Massacre of 7000 Armenians to even up for the cholera.) Wed Oct 26: Answer from amb. He’s at it. – McHugh here all A.M. He doesn’t know where or what. Hengshan? Yuanling? Kweiyang? No raid yesterday or to-day. Rat ate P’eng’s yüeh pings. – P.M. Went to island – Called on Parlett & Butland (A.P.C.) Parker, S.O. – Tea with A.P.C. Eames at dinner. Hutchison woman after him. Rats raised hell all night. Thurs Oct 27: Sutherland left for Hengshan. We meet there (hotel) or Tsiyang (Red + depot) or Kweiyang. Clear day to-day. 10 P’eng Lin Ts’ai 20 Lim & te. – Arsenal back of hosp. blew up at noon. Hosp. is a mess of broken glass. They are digging out a mass of poor broken devils. Someone must have dropped a box of grenades. – (Miss CHAN, the Mme.’s sec. is here, waiting for word where to go.) – News is scarce here – And God, how slow the embassy is on getting me a pass.



Fri Oct 28: Rainy. No word yet from embassy. Snappy work! Shopped for hat, etc. 7 Dubbed. Smedley going to 4thA, (25A in town.) – New theatre of war, W. HUNAN (?). STENNES in town. Went down & saw Henrickson, but Stennes had left. – Japs 100 kil. N. of Canton. Ch. pulling back to Yochow. Stennes was at Kotien one A.M. – Everything O.K. He left & that P.M. came news the japs had taken the place. – Collapse – 5 for Sutherland’s photos (Repaid.) Sat Oct 29: Bathroom jam. Pretty Boy Schoyer left with the door shut, & I stood on one foot for a ½ hour. So I was late at Stennes’ place. (Czarmetzki Hotel.) He will see me to-morrow. To “Sandpiper” & sent Mattice a HOT radio. All sorts of units in town. 8AG, 25A, 60A, 54A, 55D, 77D, 82D, 92D, 107D, 198D. – And rumors. CKS & Ch’en Ch’eng & Pai have been conferring. Ho Ying Ch’in is here. (Green sees him) – Pai reported in I Yang 2 days ago. C.K.S. has been here & has gone south. (Stennes, Chan & McH.) – Yochow has fallen – Yochow has not fallen, etc. Near panic. – Scramble to get out. – Br. Amb. coming. – No radio news of any kind except “the japs arrested a coolie in Shanghai.” – Creest – Took some cans over to Lim’s house. Smedley has gone. (Yeh T’ing & 4thA.) Sun Oct 30: Caught Stennes at Czarmetzkis at 7:30. All same Nanking. No orders. No prep. – C.K.S. where? Two weeks to mill around, then they’ll pick up again. – Waffles for breakfast – Went out & saw LIM. – Chinese still in Wuning & Tsungyang. Fatty Yung going to Nanchang. – All is not yet lost. – Sent out radios to Wash. @ “plans for use of pers.” (What horses’ asses they are.) Get picked up by Henrickson on the boat & went to his house for dinner. Wife dear, one 8 yr. old boy (illegit.) who speaks four languages – 15 at dinner. Chinese, German, Am., French, & Latvian. Stennes there. Got him out at 11:30 – they tried to make me stay overnight. Launch to a ma-t’ou & Stennes’ car to Yali, where I caught Eames at 12:30 climbing over the gate. – He is very hopeful of peace – bursting with dope he can’t let out. Mon Oct 31: Radios from Barrett & Mattice. – Amb. suggests I see Gov. I go to yamen – T’ang out. – Will phone. HSI & SUTH blow in. Hsi says he’ll fix it. Wait 2 days. O.K. GISSIMO here. Madamissimo left today. No plan yet made.

In town ELEMENTS OF: 8AG, 19AG, 25A, 54A, 53A, 60A, 92A, 30A, 3D, 6D, 9D, 11D, 15D, 31D (30A), 21D, 24D, 43D, 51D, 52D, 55D, 77D, 82D, 89D, 4R, 92D, 93D, 107D, 110D, 116D, 130D, 185, 193, 197D, 198D, 199D. T’ING DIV. etc. 73A, 58A.

McHugh in. To Sheng Cheng Fu (“Sêng Dzêng Fu”) & saw T’ang – When he found I did not want anything, then he would do anything. Halloween party till 11:30. (Pd. $25 to date.)

Tues Nov 1: Overcast Usual dumb ching paos. One raid by 3 or 6 planes. – Rainy. Rotten cold coming. Wed Nov 2: Rotten cold. The Int. Red + dames went without my letter. No word from Hsi or the gov. To-day makes the two days. Walked in town. Wangs at dinner. Thurs Nov. 3: Goddamn the lying chinks – (C.K.S. says they will hold Changsha for 2 mos. at least.) McHugh in. Now acknowledges presence of C.K.S. (Kerr coming to talk peace. Viscount Kano (Who’s he?) says very generous terms will be offered. How @ the jap army,



have they been consulted?) – P.M. PHONE FROM SUTH. “CKS OK’s my trip. Chang Chih Chung will get his orders.” AT LAST (MAYBE.) – Nanchang badly bombed. – No word from gov. Fri Nov 4: (156 of 64A – 21 of 92A – 55D – 52D – 185D – -- Ting – 中 (chung) 24 and 93) Had clothes sewn up – caught by ching pao on Sandpiper. Back to Ya Li at 1. No call. P.M. to gov. yamen & SAW T’ang & PAO. – They had no word. Got Pao to phone Hsü Pei-kên. Maybe he’ll do it. – Riot in street – soldiers beating up a civilian. – Cops all ran. – To Red +. No change on front. – Spear, Eames & McHughman called. Sat Nov 5: Ching pao – (4 P.D.?) Got a haircut. – Read. – 5 P.M. called Pao. He’s working so hard getting a car its just pitiful. (Wire came from Hsü Pei-ken.) Sun Nov 6: Wire from HSI at Nan Yo – Nov. 3. Everything all set. (O, Yeah!) Still raining. No chance at Red +. – Pd (to date) 20. Mon Nov 7: Bright & clear. Ching pao all A.M. – Walked. No word from those BASTARDS. (Add 4RD – 1st Art. – 10th Art. – 199D – 73A – 53A.) – Called Pao – same old stuff. – “Difficulties.” “In 3 or 4 days.” etc. etc. Said “Goodbye” & hung up. – So that’s that. (Took ½ an hour to get the call through.) McHugh in – dope on the conferences. Tues Nov 8: Japs moving down on Yo Chow. – Worked on boom at Ch’en Ling Chi (½ hr. by boat from Yo Chow.) (Ching pao) – P.M. Christening of Sandpiper baby. Saw Kerr. Braced him for a ride. O.K. if Chinese agree. Everything was lovely for 10 minutes. Then he got a wire to go to Chungking. So his Nanchang trip is off. – Back at Ya Li. – Pao had phoned. No message. Phoned back – Pao out. – It just looks like fate. Wed Nov 9: Phoned Pao. There was a train last night! Maybe another tonight. He suggested I ask the China Travel! (Great help.) (In town: 43, 57, 93, 199, 193.) Enroute to Ch’angteh 116 – 130 – 140 – 53. 滊 (hsi) Went to China Travel – knew nothing. McHugh in, leaving to-morrow. Went to RR station with him. Everything PU I TING. Schoyer back. Thurs Nov 10: Bike to Red +. Sit. bad. – T’ung Ch’eng & Yochow gone. Red + must get out at once. Gas truck to Hengshan? With Fat Yung to Nanch’ang? – P.M. Sutherland phoned from Nan Yo – They are beating it out. I’ll go as soon as possible & run with them. – Or, go with Yung if he goes. – (Tang En-po is coming back thro. T’ung Ch’eng – Chang Fa-kwei is in Anhui (!) – Ku Chu-t’ung is in Nanchang.) 78D here? 54A, 55D going west.) Walked down to get a shirt. 沒有 (mei yu - none). Town nearly deserted. Pings shooting along bund. Eames to dinner. Went to see Lim. Out, OF COURSE. – Truck in morning. Shall I go, or wait ’em out? Will Shang Chen come here? Christ, what a muddle. Fri Nov 11: (25D going west – plenty art. beating it. – To bus station at 6:30. – Nothing doing. – To R.R. sta. – no more freight – maybe train to-night. To Red + – Lo in, head cut in auto smash. – An amb. delib. bombed & m.g.’d yesterday at Changshou. Lim says I can go surely to-morrow if not this P.M. (Lot of 139th here W.D.) – 9th going out. – 193rd also. 17 pd board – Phoned LIM, may go out tonight. At 8:30 word came. – out at 5 A.M.



Sat Nov 12: Up at 4:30. – Sat out in front from 5 to 7:15. Then ate & went back. (Antics of a crazy man out in street.) 7:30 amb. comes. Doc Jung to Nanch’ang at 5 – or this car now. Sent clo. roll & box with them to TSIYANG – Going with Jung. – Rode out to 紅十字 (Hong Shih Tzu – Red Cross) Hui & checked with him. 70A ? At 5, out front. At 6:15 they came after I had cursed for an hour. Then we got 2 drums of oil & got caught in the martial law leaving town. “Mustn’t take tunghsi” “What tung hsi?” “O, just tung hsi. – Had to go to ssu ling pu – Got a flag but decided to sleep there. Turned in – Then of course they took off martial law. We got off at 9:30. No trouble, no papers. Cold as hell. Dozed & banged my head about 100 times. – Opened pei wo after Wan Tsai. In Nanchang at dawn. Sun Nov 13: (49A = 105 – 6 – 7) In K.T. Yü H. Mou R; C.C.S.(!) C; Hsieh Yüeh L…. At Yo Chow = Tang on L. C.F.K. on R., Ch’en Ch’eng in center. (40D here) (156D) (74A) (25A) (52D/25A) (19D) (139 – 41 – 2) – Coming in to Nanchang, sky-line seemed on fire. Chilled to the bone. Burlington Hotel O.K. Bomb in front yard. – Glass all out. – Had breakfast. To Red + Hqrs. – (Dr. T’ang & Yuan.) Red + lad from up front says 27 divs. here. (90D is in 4A) Went to Hsueh Yueh’s Hqrs. to ask for Shang. Hsüeh Yueh could not see me, – too busy, the bastard. (Put him in the book.) Boy scout 徐 (Hsü) with me. To Shang’s Hqrs. & then he came in. Looks fine. Liu in H.K. buying car & 18 chauffeurs; no word. – Changsha in a blaze since 3 A.M. Few wounded on this front. – Shang stays here. 139th in line. (Of course they took off martial law in Changsha just when they needed it.) Had chow with Hsü 1.80 & bought sweat shirt 3.50 & skags 2.50. Many stores half open. Three ching paos. No planes. Got a nap. Chow for Yung, Yuan, T’ang & ___? at hotel (15.00 = share of 150). Mon Nov 14: Breakfast with Jung. To Shang Chen’s –10 A.M. to 12:30. – Got THE BOOK (KO’s.) – Fine talk. He is our ace. – Walked in the sun. – Bought candy & skags & paper. 7.30 217 Mex left) Carmel weather. Q: Will camelias grow outside there? (They do here. Fine chrysanthemums too.) To chow with Jung, Fang, (Peking Bd. of Health under Yuan Liang), Huang, (P.U.M.C.), Chang Hsing-fu, (J. L. Whang’s asst), T’ang, Yuan, & Lo. (Red +), Liu, (civil engr). The usual polite & well bred crowd of Chinese gentlemen – Contrast it with a Jap party! (Jung treated Frank’s fractured spine.) Tues Nov 15: 79A. (Fang told Chu Teh’s BIRD story as of FÊNG by Q. & A. to the troops. “La shih pu la shih” “LA SHIH” – etc.) Jung off at 5. – Saw SHANG CHEN – 10 to 12 – He will make a list of divs & chün for me. One D. from 79A & two D’s of 74A to Ch’angsha. – Ch’angsha completely burned. – 118D, 58D, 160, 159 – Bought a shirt, batteries and p’ao tze 4.50. Elements of 160 – wharf rats – nondescript K.T. runts. All sorts of clothes. Bare legs – sandals – shorts. Tin hats or bamboo hats. Looks like Canton’s sweepings. – Everybody bricking up doors & windows. Persistent beggars. One more town waiting for the invaders. COLDER. Wed Nov 16: COLDER YET. I am going to agonize myself. – SHANG went to LO HUA to Chiang hua. Looked up Johnson (at Chi An) & Holland. (Knows nothing). Bought cond. milk. 1.50 98D 1:30 P.M. alarm. Hotel suddenly deserted. Couldn’t find a soul till recall, when they came out of their holes. – Walked in sun. My cold is better. (Blank day.)



Thurs Nov 17: Shang back, thank God. Date for 12:30. – Walked around the Three Lakes. Could be pretty. – Weather milder – Met a couple of pings (Hunan lads) from the 15th. They said 15 + 16 = 73A/78 – + 13 +14 = 4A/72A. (not so) Now what? – Back for lunch. 139th K.O., Li Chao Ying there. (2000 men left, 10 li front.) Had a good talk. Liu To Ch’uan came in. (49th A – 118 + 105) – Left at 3. Date for to-morrow at 9:30. – Walked along river. Millions of boats. Boy Scout hailed me. “How old are you?” “95.” “By golly that’s wonderful.” – He wanted me to be sure & come back & see him again. Fri Nov 18: To Shang’s at 9:30. Went over K’ao Ch’eng till 11:30. Gave him our target dope & some Eng. sentences. – Back & wrote up the dope. Walked in sun. – Shang here for dinner. Had a good talk. He will get a car for me to go Lo Hua tomorrow. Sat Nov 19: Hotel bill 56+10. Off with the round-faced fu kuan for LO HUA. (40 li.) Road p’o huai’d all the way. After 10 P.M. to-night to be cut completely. (They are even taking the radiators out of the hotel. Might as well for all the heat they have. Meet at LO HUA by 2 guards. FU SHIH, 長 (chang) 142nd, @ 38 yrs. old, instr. in tactics in Mil. Acad. Liu Lü, YUAN FAN CHUNG, the t’uan came in. Went over Chi Liu Feng. Hell of an involved affair. A Shansi col., big buggar, came back with us; reminded me of Jenkins. A very impressive lot of officers. They should tear the ass off the japs & they could, damn it, if they had the stuff. Had breakfast about noon, & left at 1 P.M. Liu To Ch’uan has not yet set up a C.P. Phone to Shang, who said wait a couple of days. O.K. I got along fine with that crowd. – Good eggs. (Last night – dream – getting ready for parade at W. P. Couldn’t get my stuff together. Then a black-haired dame with gray eyes wanted 3 blank checks, & she was willing to pay, too.) Woke up before I could close the deal. – Back to 紅都 (Hong Tu) at 2. P.M. Wrote & walked all over town. – Telephone pole floating bridge. Stocking makers – man still working on fiddles. – Jennies & HHG going up-river by boat. (Looks like evac.) Camphor smells predominate. Actually old section of town interesting. – Stone paved, winding narrow streets, arch-ways, turns & twists. Everything shut, almost. – Wood yard – bamboo & camphor all stacked up. – “Victory Soap Factory.” – The Big Boys having dinner here. – I was shut up in my room for mine. Sun Nov 20: Gen. Fu & his little C. of S. at breakfast. – Big shindig last night. Polo should have some new dope. – Doc. Fong came at noon & offered his car to go to Tsin Hsien. Went to Shang’s CP to make sure, & Col. Wang is here (for the bellyaches). Fu Kuan to phone when I can see him. Gave the fu kuan an English lesson. He phoned at 3:30 & I met Col. Wang Ch’i Ming & talked till 5:15 – action at TEIAN. Phoned Fang car not needed. Wrote before it was all spilled. Good stuff. Mon Nov 21: Shang busy all A.M. – Back at 2 P.M. “Asleep.” “Come at 8.” Walked for 2 hrs. – Old part of town very colorful. – Bright warm day. – At 8 went down & saw Shang. He leaves for Heng Yang to-morrow. Invited me to go. I smelled a rat & refused; it might embarrass him. He phoned Fu @ my map, & jacked them up @ the list. Also promised some old O. of B. maps. Will I get them? Just maybe. Tues Nov 22: The big 山西 (Shan-hsi) COL is CHAO YÜN FEI (737th). To-day I either get my stuff or they screw me. – *** YES (overflow – but not from that.) Ching pao – at 1:00. Walked all P.M. – Seagulls here. – All metal going out. – old bronze bells, etc. Also all modern jennies.



They’ve started on the hotel. Old curio dealer ‘Where could I p’ao to?” “No, I will stay.” – STALE FART ST. has been extra rich lately. The wounded stop to eat there, & there is a touch of gangrene mixed in with rotten tou-fu & other tasty ingredients. – Peaceful river scenes just as usual. – 5 P.M. NO WORD FROM THE 32 A. Of course not. – Hot bath. – D&A list came at dinner! Checked till 10:30. Wed Nov 23: Called at Hqrs. Of course they were pan-ing Kung. Ching pao “Come back at 2” – Rude bunch of bastards. Make a big noise with a car & you get attention, – not otherwise. At 1 P.M. the fu kuan came to the hotel – C. of S. had sent him with the list. “It was the gen. himself & another man who made the list.” “Let me see him.” “He has gone away.” “I’ll see the C. of S.” “He’s gone out & won’t be back.” – Jesus. Get that bastard’s name & sting him if possible. – Report him officially? Might get Shang in bad. Black list him anyway. – ching pao again – Walked in sun. At 4:30 the MAP came! Good old FU LI P’ING. – All set now, ex. for the O. of B. which was too much to expect. Bill 35 + 8 = 43 Mex 97 left! Thurs Nov 24: THANKSGIVING. (Cock-eyed.) With Fong & Huang & another off at 7:25. In Ki-an at 11:25 – (217 kilom). Along the Kau Kiang. (Elgin – 1816) Good straight road till last 25 kil. 4A all along going south; also Jung says 64th and 66th A’s have gone south. (41 on road – 2nd Brig. F.A. about 20 guns – 8 mule teams. Clear water in the Kau. – Ferry at Ki Shui. – In the hills now. – Had tiffin at Fongs. (Mrs. Fong + 2 kids, – boy has measles.) Mrs. Chu, daughter of ex-premier. – Hsieng Hsi Ling (?) – Yuan Shih K’ai – fat girl, used to be in Peking – looks like Mrs. Ch’uan. Her 5 kids & husband in 四川 (Szechuan), she at work here. Kian interesting, cultivated gullies thro. the town. – River full of boats. – Went to Hong 十字 (shih tsu) & there were T’ang & Jung. Very cordial. Good eggs. Will camp here. – 江西 (Chiang Hsi) has 83 hsiens; 3 occ. by japs. –) – Rode out so. to Red + repair place with Jung – back after dark. T’ang, Jung, & I had chow 3.19. – Kian is je nao de hen – Camped in the office with Jung & T’ang. Fri Nov 25: Up at 6, ready at 7 – off at 9. (8 of us in truck cab.) – 12 hrs to Heng Yang – a soirée. In at 9 P.M. – Crazy crooked approach at ferry. – Trip not interesting. Few hills generally flat & open. Red yao sai at Yang Hsin – Then Lu Yang and An Jen – 3 ferries on the way. Streams clear – We stopped every 10 min. for water. – Found Dr. Ma & Yuan here at Heng Yang. Bunked in the male & female stable. – Ma says report japs were at Ming Lo caused burning of Changsha – 10-20,000 people lost. Sat Nov 26: Navy game. Ma going to Pao King. Made cocoa & piddled around. (Dream – thanking Chauncey Fenton for Sept 9.) Got chow ax the street, & had 2 beggar guests. The management did not like the idea & I had to push. – Heavy bombing at noon by 9 and 9 planes. Sun Nov 27: (POTTED CAKE SHOP.) To RR at 9:30. Ching pao at 3:00, learned from Hsian ping that chün ling fu is on way to Kwei Lin. Back to Red +. (Jesus.) Dinner with Ma at 三角

(San Chiao). Wd. soldier beggars 6.50. Turned in. Ma woke me up at 10. Truck for Tsiyang – 10:30 to 3:30 A.M. Bad road, bad lights, overload. Doc. Chou put me in Lim’s room.



Mon Nov 28: Up at 8. Around camp with Doc YIK WANG. No news. No baggage. What the hell. – To town. Skags & nuts 6.20. Basin 2 – Baggage turned up! LIM back. Hsi En-sui gone to Kwei Lin – japs in . Barbecue. I went to bed. JUNG arrived. Tues Nov 29: Fine weather. May try train with Doc Chou. (“I biles my tools”) – Tommy Ma & Yuan in from Hengyang. – Decided to wait for the thro. truck. R.R. too damn uncertain. Wed Nov 30: YIK left. – (Clothing factory burned yesterday. 30 people caught.) No news ex. Mr. Kennedy comes home for Xmas. – A Mr. LIU (Ord. Dept.) in 英德 (Ying Te). On way to Kweilin. Joan Wang was no help at all. Thurs Dec 1: Raw, cold, gray day. (Dream, working over a back.) Going to-morrow. (Walked.) Fri Dec 2: Off at 8. Stuck at once. God damned Canton chauffeurs. Worse than monkeys. Got to 黃沙河 (Huang Sha Ho) at 2:30. Ate, left at 5 – changed cars. In Kweilin at 10 – Pooped around till 12, looking for chow, Y.M.C.A., bank, baggage, etc. A hell of a day, – dust, delay, breaks, etc. Went with Chow to Y. & had his room. Kweilin has been heavily bombed. – Due for more. Sat Dec 3: Up at 7:30. – Fine day. To Farmer’s Bank. Finally dug out Suth’s card. “Am at LO CH’ÊN SHÊ. Went there; another battle. Finally “left 2 weeks ago.” No letter or card. SURE. Now where is he? Back to Y. Tsung (Juichang) says Hanson is here (AP). On chance, stopped a foreigner in street, asked @ E.M.S. Sent to Dr. Meeshaw – “O, yes, he was here – went to Kwei Yang! Had a ride offered, so went. Left letter at Lo Ch’ên Shê.” – Well, Christ. So he’s a runner. Goes back just because there’s a ride. Depending on him for money, too. Had cocoa. With Chow & dug up a restaurant. (Chiao 子 (tzu) & cabbage soup.) – Crackers $8.60 a box (K. Hsi). Small milk $8.80 a doz., etc. Prices way up & nothing for sale. – Gen. exodus from town in A.M. to hills. Japs dropped word they would level Kweilin by Dec. 18. Got govt. yamen & main business, close to bank. – Now what? Stick here a few days, find Hanson & then maybe walk to Kwei Yang. TSUNG says can wire Chungking – 7 A.M. No ching pao. (Liu 州 (Chou) to Kwei Yang IMPOSSIBLE.) Found Hansen. Supper with Chou. Moved to LO CH’ÊN SHÊ, in the big assembly hall. Sun Dec 4: Up at 7. Sent wire to Mattice. Moved from the big dormitory to 222. Chewed the rag with Hansen all A.M. (Tass photog. & Miss Chang, the Russian interp. who was at Hsüchow.) Passed Hsü Pei Ken in hall. No sign of recognition, the rat. Mon Dec 5: Missed Hsü this A.M. Chow at Grand Hotel. No service here, – the Russians get all the attention. A bunch of movie thugs, sub-sergeant looking things. False ching-pao. To the hills. Fine view of city, with saw-tooth hills all around. – 5 yr. old girl with baby on back, & leading a 2 yr. old boy. Five causeways leading out of city, all packed with fleeing lao pai hsing. – Yeh Ch’ien Ying dropped in on us with Wang. (Red Big Shot.) – Gissimo & Pai are here. Got Suth’s letter, – he just went, for no reason at all. Saw Hsü Pei Kên, & the little bastard was no help at all. Couldn’t get me out fast enough. He says, why don’t you fly? As if the army had not ting’d all the seats. – Guy from Stennes’ radio station came in; gave him a wire for



Sutherland. (Hsü Pei Ken denied news of Jap ships at Pakhoi.) To Eurasia; next vacancy for Chungking is in FEB. – Goodby to CHOU. Tues Dec 6: (Radio from Sutherland yesterday – in answer to mine – at 1 P.M.!) To Chiao T’ung Pu. “Come back at 3.”) At 2 saw Su Mi Shu Chang. “je ferai de mon possible.” – and at 3 the 交通部 (chiao t’ung pu – Ministry of Transportation) man LIU. – Schedule indefinite, 2 to 10 days wait. – “Write a letter,” etc. Can go when truck comes & direct to Kweiyang. Well, I’ll walk I guess. (SIGN ON EXIT, – “OUT OF THE WAY”!) Saw Meioshaw about a coolie. Got one from Herring. Wed Dec 7: (Rainy). Leave to-morrow. LIU of Central News in – had a wire from Sutherland. Much surprised at treatment. Going to make inquiries. A good egg; my troubles are nothing to him. Hanson wrote a wire crabbing about it – but LIU was back in 20 minutes. Hsü Pei Ken will have a car. He was so regretful about my walking. Liu prob. told him what bad publicity it would be. PRESSURE is all they understand. – ALSO at 3 P.M. man from the gov. “Bus at 6 to-morrow.” My God, embarrassment of riches. If Hsü has a fast car, I’ll take it – otherwise, bus. – Well, at 8:15 Hsü had not come back. That for my date with him. Then the gov’s man came – no assurance beyond LIUCHOW. – Hell. – Then news came of a special run by one of the boys. – $120 a ticket. Got TS’AO to hold a place on that. Saw Meioshaw; he had nothing. So it’s house-boy bus, or walk, unless the gov’s wire is answered to-night. Thurs Dec 8: LIU in last night – surprised that Hsü Pei Ken had been out at 8 P.M. The gov’s lad who speaks such good Eskimo came at 7 – & gargled something about tickets. Sent him back & said I would t’ing hsin. The generalmissimo’s gang are leaving. – Ts’ao in, about the house-boy’s bus. Back at 3 P.M. – Saw Su mi shu; telegram not yet answered. Will let me know. Wait, wait, wait. – LIU in – no news ex. he saw Hsü today and Hsü told him the car couldn’t leave to-day. – Had chow with the Mary Knoll fish eaters. – Walsh, Toomey, Romanelli, etc. Good eats. Fri Dec 9: Ching-pao. False. TSAO in – bell-boy bus leaves to-morrow, Dec 10. Went to the hotel. “SURE”. Be at Lo Ch’en Shê at 3 with ticket. 2:30, note from Tsao. NO BUS. Well, Christ. Went over & told Herring to get lao P’an ready. Came back, & there was the answer to the gov’s wire. Truck to LIUCHOW to-morrow maybe & a seat ting’d from there on. – We can now go on Ow Yang’s truck if the Kung Lu Chü hasn’t one & get a truck out from LIUCHOW. – Now it turns out that Ow Yang’s letter was sent yesterday & never delivered. So the truck has gone. – Well, just at 6:30, in comes a guy with the tickets & a letter from the Gov. to the Liuchow magistrate. And on the way out, here is SU coming in to report. Everything now jake. (Q. Did Ow tell them what I said @ the telegram, & that I was going to walk?) – Called off the coolie, paid the bill, & packed up. I hope this is the end of the act. It is high time. Sat Dec 10: Up at 5 A.M. Hanson has found a car for Kwang Chowwan. Off at 7:00 packed like sardines. Hsieh P’u at 10 – an hour there. Liuchow at 4 – Rainy day – Went to Hsien yamen & Yang welcomed me. Bus full tomorrow. Yang couldn’t do anything. Fixed up ticket for Monday & sent me to the LO CH’EN SHÊ. All jake so far. (Women t’iao fus here; also ferry boats.) (Simile – “as much chance of getting out as the last sardine in the bottom layer.”) High-wheeled Peking carts. One or two cows to pull. – 10 telegraph poles & driver on cow.)



Sun Dec 11: Dull day. Met a doctor I had known in Chengchow & Hankow. Was in the Canton mess. Got my junk dried out. Crossed river & walked. River front boat-builders. (300 L.C. for a new sampan. $25 gold. Big lumber market. Fan-tan in full swing & t’aos putting down dollar bills like nickels. The usual insulting snickers over my looks. – Yunnan lads in mil. school here. Some big ones. They speak Chinese. Here 6 mos. now & not too eager to fight. 3 P.M. – Ticket. Now I find it is 3 days more to Kweiyang. Christ. Why didn’t I walk? Also they kuo pêng the day before. Very convenient. $23.62 – ($10.90 from Kweilin.) – Yellow bamboo & a papaya tree in the garden. – Liuchow is a typical setting for a better Miyajima. (LOOK UP RECIPE FOR K’AO3 TAN. Jimmy Ch’uan? Egg omelet over charcoal.) $16.00 hotel bill. Mon Dec 12: Drizzle. Out at 7:00 – off at 8:00. Front seat to hsien chang. 30 kil. out chauff. found front spring broken. Delay at I SHAN, fixing it. Off at 2:00 & in 河池 (Ho Ch’ih) about 6. 河池 (Ho Ch’ih) is a one-street dump. I found one bed vacant at the front door of a lü kuan & grabbed it. To restaurant & invited myself to dinner with HSÜ, TAI, CHU, & T’ANG of the Hsing Ying. Good eggs. Found we were together at the inn. They paid for chow & the room. I dated them for Chungking. Turned in early. Tues Dec 13: Changed cars, after a long b-ache & had started in a better one. Dammed if it didn’t have a bad spring! Stopped at Da t’ai for repairs. No got. A major got nabbed for smuggling opium. Had it hidden under the chassis. Had a big chow at Southern Pills (Nan Tan) 25¢ mex) & then poked along over the mts. to Tu Shan – 5:45 P.M. (190 kil. today). Country from Ho Ch’ih like Utah – sparse growth on hills – not much water. Hills more rugged. Bad, worn out road – Poorly located. Had to nurse the car. TU-SHAN very interesting – rambling streets paved like a river bed. Shops open on street, & streets running any old way. Veg. market going. Got a clean room at a new inn. (1.60.) – Filthy mao-fang. Wed Dec 14: (Power tool for taking nuts off quickly.) Up early & over to the station where I had a green field. Off at 8:00 thro. mt. grades. Got to Kwei Ting about 1. Went right thro. Kweiyang at 6:15 P.M. Got my hsing li, had to open one bundle for a g.d. hsien ping. In to city with dumb la ch’e ti. La ts’o 子 (tzu). Finally got to Ch. Travel & then to guest house. Yes, Sutherland is here. Also the ambassador & McHugh. Some surprise. He’s on his way to the U.S. via Burma. McH. says A. 14 – N. 7 so that’s O.K. Invited to dinner by Dr. Zur (Chou) at Bank of China. Mr. Ch’ien (Peiping), Dr. SHEN, gen. sec. CHEN, & Doc Zur – Johnson, McH., Suth. & I. Thurs Dec 15: Saw the Ambass. off. He’s going to give the W.D. a good blast. A good egg, – certainly 100% as ambass. go. Walked to radio station. Called at French mission. Back for lunch. P.M. walked around the city E, S, & W. Cormorant fishing. In about 5 P.M. Doc Zur called. Ticket for bus on Dec. 17. Doc is O.K. Fri Dec 16: The kids in this province are unusual – in their play & games, unconcerned in heavy traffic, & unconscious of anyone looking. (The parade of 4 little girls about 3 yrs. old etc. etc.) (The rat moved all the candy in 2 stages yesterday. Table to chair – chair to floor at hole. They ought to put him in the Chinese Army.) Saw the Gov. – met Scott. – Got bags down. Chow with Ch’ien & Zur. Ticket to Ch.King. $27.00 Hotel. Goodbye to Malley. Left canned stuff for



Lim. (Ch’ien tells me stories I told him 3 years ago.) Ch’ien’s collection of silver. A coined TAEL. Widow’s piece. Soldier’s pay. etc.) Room 10 – chow & tips 9. Sat Dec 17: Up at 5. The engr. rat got the soap. I’d like to take him home & give him problems to solve. – Off at 8 A.M. Dumb chauffeur and bum car. 100 kilometers by noon. Chow at ferry – Bird River. Good road all way. Poor country, beaten-down lao pai hsing. Salt coolies. Mountain scenery. – In Tung Tsê at 6:30. To Chao Tai So. Room all ready. Chow & to bed early. Sun Dec 18: Up at 5:30. Over the ridges all day long. Heavy climb & dips 2-3000’. Bus labored, but by constantly pouring in water, we got to Chi Kiang at 6:30. Down a river valley last three hours. Scenery better & better. Rich soil on this side. Anything grows. Dam hard work. “silting the Ch’ê.” Rec’d at Chi by runner – they had the telegram. Lousy inn, but still O.K. – (1 A.M., out the window) Mon Dec 19: Big slug of oatmeal, cocoa & brown bread. Off at 8. 82 kils. to Chungking. One ferry, new bridge not ready. Down river valley all way. – Not as scenic as yesterday. – Met by Mattice at noon & took chairs to embassy – up & down, in & out, all steps & slippperiness. Usual dull overcast weather. Lunch with Mattice at S.O. – P.M. at office, talking. To Peck’s for a bath. Dinner with Peck, Newton, Laffoon, & Weems. – The south bank is just a nest of jumbled houses, streets, paths, etc. – no straight routes anywhere. One hell of a mess. Tues Dec 20: Peck took me in with him. Both in same bed-room. Worked on codes all day. Everybody O.K in Peking. – a sloppy dump, this. Wed Dec 21: Code & msg. all A.M. Navy tiffin downstairs. (Ratoff, Ball, McClure, Hackenbush, Greenway, Laure, Mme. Picot. V.d. Bosch, Alexandrini, Brant, Tolley, Lawlor, Coffin & us. Navy has the Revolutionary whiskers and looks like hell. (Q. Why didn’t Johnson set up the club & have everybody in it?) P.M. more codes. No word from the W.D. Thurs Dec 22: Up early and across river for calls on 王 (Wang) & 空 (K’ung). Wang Ch’ung Hui & H.H. Kung. Both very pleasant. Saw Chi & Farmer at publicity bureau. Tuan Mao Lau at 外交部 (Wai Chiao Pu - Foreign Ministry). CKS out of town. Lunch with Tolley & Coffin in Navy Club. Talkers, but damn nice to us. Tenney of the salt in for dinner. Fri Dec. 23: Across at 9:30 to see Cheng Ch’un. Had a good talk with him. Saw CH’I CH’I, who isn’t much. Got his Jap xx stuff. Lunch at Int. Club with Peck, Greenway, TUAN & Chang P’eng Ch’un. – Back to so. bank. Pete Chiang over. Sat Dec 24: Dull – after sunshine yesterday. Worked all day. The Petros here at 6. Both look old & tired. He’s having a hell of a time with the Chinese. Not much future. A.P.C. party at night. Peck back at 3 A.M. Sun Dec 25: Dull & drizzle. Third Xmas in succession away from Peking – at office. M. had a bleat because Suth. is taking his place. “He had been king; now there is a new king” etc. childish pout. – Petros for lunch. Nap – Air reservation to Kun Ming – 29th – Petros for lunch.



P.M. 13 at dinner – 3 emb., 3 clerks, 3 army, 3 navy, & Jones – S.O. General source of Willys, who waxed eloquent. Insisted on the “crucifixion of an animal,” but I got him to bed without it. Mon Dec 26: Arthur Young in. Ching pao. Went to Picht’s. Stennes detained. Met him on way back. Mattice was waiting in Chungking club for our tiffin. Made date for 27th, no word from W.D. Tues Dec 27: Went over & got haircut. Got Stennes & Barensprung & came back for tiffin in Ch. Club. Grand day of reminiscences. Stennes says – Fr off. = Ger. off. & high command better. Joffre O.K., but Foch better. – Story of Hensel, who would not use a plane, nor would V. Moltke get into one. (Respect for opponents. Even respect for the Austrians, who, as Luddendorf told Stennes, had sacrificed themselves vs. the Russians in Galicea.) ….Elastic band policy for the Chinese. Just take up the slack…. Had dinner with Mattice at Jones’. Wed Dec 28: Office. Lunch with Stennes & Barensprung. Peck got date with C.K.S. thro. Donald. 4:30 – about 15 min. Very cordial. Both looked extremely well. – Stennes took me out & back. Frank was quite frank. – Gave me a photo & their blessing. Back & had chow with Suth. Matt. & Pete Chiang. Packed. Thurs Dec 29: Off at 8. Peck, Matt. & Suth. – sunging. Field at 9. Plane in at 10. – Wireless broken. No flight. To Canadian Mission. Then to embassy. Back to Picht’s. Picked up Barensprung & went to a movie. Then chow & to mission. The German police watch discharged Germans who have served in the French Foreign Legion, fearing that they have absorbed so much loyalty to France that they may be spies. A cabaret started in Chungking, but Gen. Fan bought all the girls & they had to close. The place is now the Wai Chiao Pu guest house. Fri Dec. 30: To field at 9 – off at 10:15. – Circled around & came back. Radio still N.G. Postponed till to-morrow. My God. Back to Canadian mission. Read all P.M. Sat Dec. 31: The field at 9:30. 2 planes left. I got in second one. 10:15 to 1 P.M. Up to 12,000. Blanket of clouds for 1¾ hours – about ¾ hr in Yünnan, – clear. Bumpy. Met by Collins. The sun shines here. To Hotel du Lac. After lunch to consulate. Saw the Meyers. – Johnson found 150 mi. south of here. Mrs. J. is with the Meyers. – Back at 7:30 for dinner. – Meyers came back to hotel & dug out Chenault, Sharp, Reynolds & co. & we talked till 11:30. Chenault – Big lesson is you must support bombardment with pursuit. McCabe-isms. Peremptory orders for Lanchow spoiled trip to 13thA & prevented my presence at Taierhchuang battle. Roberts held in Canton, Jan 1 to Oct 11 – Absolutely no use to us. One unnecessary trip to Yunnan.



Dorn relieved without a word to me. Munson appointed without a word to me. Nasty crack about Carlson’s getting around to observe. Direct orders to my personnel for moves. Direct reports from my personnel to him. “Serious error of judgment” in going north, “when important mil. operations were impending.” Who knew? CHANGKUFENG. Dorn was here. Hot language & apparent offense taken when I asked if I could now move my personnel. Never a personal word from him. No indication of mil. information desired, ex. air service. No acknowledgment of any reports received. Answers to several of my wires to Barrett, & not direct to me. His criticisms my work contradicted by evaluation sheets. All hot about whether CKS was alive or not; no interest in operations. Ignorant of condition of travel, & difficulties of dealing with Chinese (Amb. gave him a blast on this.) No help from qualified language officers in U.S., trained for just this emergency. No help in putting pressure on the Chinese. (The following notes are from diary #35; first part of 1938.) Look up Shang Chen’s hours in Peking. Send box to Chang Chen – T. Paste – Shaving cream – Dates – Figs – Coffee – Soap – Chocolate – Cocoa – Prunes – Canned stuff – T. Brush THURS. Feb. 3 P.M. Hankow FRI Feb 4 En route SAT “ 5 Chengchow & Kaifeng SUN “ 6 Kaifeng 2:30 MON “ 7 To CHENGCHOW 8-11 TUES “ 8 To Kaifeng 2 to 5 P.M. WED “ 9 To Kweitch 8-11:30 THURS “ 10 To 徐州 (Hsüchou) 11:55-6:45 FRI “ 11 In 徐州 (Hsüchou) SAT “ 12 In 徐州 (Hsüchou) SUN “ 13 In 徐州 (Hsüchou) MON “ 14 To T’eng Hsien 4:30-10:00 TUES “ 15 To LINCHENG HSÜCHOW WED “ 16 To HSÜCHOW 3 A.M. THURS “ 17 (51xxx) To Changkeng Chai FRI “ 18 To KUCHEN 7:30 SAT “ 19 To C.P. 678lll (180) SUN “ 20 To Nansuchow & MON “ 21 2 A.M. HSÜCHOW



TUE “ 22 To Chengchow WED “ 23 IN Chengchow THUR “ 24 To Hankow Arr. 10 P.M. Hankow 11 P.M. Feb. 3. $8 arr Kaigeng 2:30 P.M. Feb 5 $3.45 Chengchow 8-11 P.M. 7th $3.45 Kaifeng 2-5 P.M. 8th Lv. Kaifeng 8 A.M. 9th ($6.30) Arr. Kweitch 11:30 A.M. 9th ($1.50) Lv. Kweitch ($7.50) 11:55 A.M. 10th Arr. Hsüchow 6:45 P.M. 10th Lv Hsuchow 4:30 P.M. 14th Arr. T’enghsien 10 P.M. ($4.65) Lv. T’engshien 11 A.M. ($3) 15th Arr. Lincheng 5 P.M. 15th Lv. Lincheng 11:50 P.M (3.15) 15th Arr. Hsuchow 3 A.M. 16th Lv. Hsuchow 5 P.M. 17th Arr. Chang Keng Chai 12 MID. 17/18 Lv. Chang Keng Chai 5 P.M. 18th Arr. Lu Chia Wei Tze 6 P.M. 19th Lv. Lu Chia Wei Tze ($2.30) AM 20th Arr. Hsüchow 2 A.M. 21st Lv. Hsüchow (17.25) A.M. 22 Arr. Chengchow 11:30 P.M. 22 Lv. Chengchow 6 A.M. 24 ($29.50) Arr. Hankow Have no mu (The following notes are from diary #40; April to early June of 1938.) Point: Couldn’t use Fisher Mattice etc. acct. refusal of money. Of course G-2 got it when he wanted it. Point: Unwarranted crabbing about simple request for informtion about policy. Point: Crab @ coverage etc. when several diff. agencies reporting direct. No co-ord. Point: Interference cost me chance to observe at Taierhchuang. Point: No corre. from McCabe ex. crabbing crit. No direction @ kind of info. No desire ex. is CKS alive? Stop @ Res Off. & Supreme War Council Reversed jobs with A.M.A. Am I responsible or not? Yü has 2 150’s (lost ?), 6 77’s



Brigs in col – on 22 li front. (Forward lü chang killed to-day) Most wounded now by rifle & M.G. Opposing lines are close together. Back & forth scrapping. Desultory jap art. fire. Quiet sector. Yü has 51A & 60A (113-114 182 & 83 & 184) 3rd going in (changed & sent to P’I Hsien) Yü says Japs not bad when winning, but wen pushed back they take it out on the LPH. Terauchi = Ssü Nei 寺內 Hata = T’ien Chün 畑俊 (Matsui) = (Sung Ching) 松井 Doihara = T’u Fei Yuan Itagaki = Pan Yuan Isogai = Chi Kow Hayashi = Hsiao Chi 小磯? Nishido = Ling3 = Ling Mu 玲木 Sakai = Chinese are doing better – WHY? Ching gen – New Divs. Get punished – Old ones get by cheap Jap fervor dying – All agree that their attacks are much less hard to stop. Confidence – Ch. believe now they can win. Not afraid. Piece-meal stuff by Japs – Reinforcements piddled in. Japs have no mu ti & do not want to fight. Nature of defense – Ch. do not dig till late trenches. Garrison the villages & lie doggo – attack at night – Planes at loss to locate guns or positions. Scattered villages make it a real island defense – Japs can’t find anything to hit, except small villages, which are hard to take. Losses now nearly even, or getting so. In the old days of tribute, at every lock on the Grand Canal, the boys would stick a hollow stick into the bags & draw off some rice, – replacing the weight with water. At Peking the rice had to be dried. When silver went into the treasury it was carried in by naked coolies. After the day’s work, four men seized each coolie & jounced him up & down, in case he had crammed a shoe of silver up his rectum. TSAO’RH SWEET PICKLE – Same recipe as pickled peaches. DRIED PERSIMMO. Boil to kill germs. Dry in oven, door open. Cut in strips & roll in powdered sugar.

Hopkins, ref. Dollar line boats. Waiter at table walked off at 8 – passengers about half through.

24 bums walk out at Honolulu. Capt. sails. 385 miles out gets orders from Wash. to go back & get the strikers.



62

Waiters sit down & eat, drink & smoke at passengers’ tables. Hopkins had good bread at one meal instead of stale stuff. The waiter had brought it for

their supply. Had to discontinue his service because other passengers might want good bread, too.

Hop. will never ride again on Dollar boats. Selby WALKER, Sh’ai, Reuter’s saw a jap officer swing a 5-yr. old child around his

head by his feet & throw him. The child stuck head first & lay still. This was for the crime of brushing against the jap’s leg. Later, three Chinese, with hands wired behind them, were forced into the creek & drowned. Later, some japs tore the clothes off some women & then stuck their bayonets in their breasts.

All this at one of the bridges over Soochow Creek in Shanghai some time in April 1938. The sentries report similar proceedings almost daily.

FROM MATTICE 5/29/38. Ref. our no. 40 transmit following to Col. S. “Radio W.D. your present itinerary & purpose your trip to Sh’ai & No. China.” Originally came thro. State Dept.

Ans. Re your radio to Hankow: Itinerary – by sea to Tientsin & rail to Peiping. Leave Shai May 31. Purpose of trip to inform myself on conditions in Shai & No. China areas to check last six months work of Peiping Office and arrange future work. (Barrett sent one too.)

The chief industry of mankind is agriculture. 65% of the human race are engaged in it. And it is based on UTILIZING SUNLIGHT TO CONVERT CARBON DIOXIDE & WATER INTO FOOD THRO. PLANT LIFE.

Agriculture is about 5% efficient. By agua-culture – (trays of water fertilized by chemical compound) – efficiency goes up to 50% & more.

24th and 102nd in fighting near Lanfeng.

Jap brat adopted by Susan Carroll, (friend of Hopkins). After going to school, changed attitude noticed. Mrs. C. questioned her about it. Brat finally came out with it “We Japanese have souls, & you foreigners have not.”

Story from Hawaii about japs having orders to kill off their employers. Questioned, one jap servant said, “O, no, I wouldn’t do such a thing. The washer woman would kill you.” (Similar gag going around Shanghai. Sounds fishy.)



1938 sat jan 1 - hoover institution · kweichow – on gov’t. staff.) – quiet on am. attitude....

Documents