An AP news dispatch from Taipei reported that quite a few islands which used to be notorious pirate lairs are among the 30-odd islands off the mainland coast held by the Nationalists.
These islands dot the sea from the Ta Chen group, about 200 miles south of Shanghai to Quemoy opposite Taiwan. Their strategic importance is tremendous.
The islands now serve as bases for raids on Communist-held islands as well as on the mainland itself. And, if the time comes, they could be used as jumping off points for a more substantial invasion of the mainland.
According to the same source, these islands also serve as listening posts for the Nationalists. Guerrilla chieftains from the mainland visit them to report on developments behind the bamboo curtain. Government agents go from them to the sub-continent to see what is going on there. And Communist prisoners taken in raids on the coast furnish a constant source of intelligence.
The possession of these islands by the Nationalists is a psychological as well as a military advantage. It makes the Communists lose face and stimulates the hopes of Nationalist sup porters on the mainland for Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's return. –(AP)
Communist Coastal Defense
Quoting the latest Nationalist intelligence reports from the mainland, the Tatao News Agency said that the entire 11,000-kilometer long Chinese coast from the Yalu River south to Kwangtung Province is now defended by 18 Communist armies, 104 war vessels and some 500 warplanes.
The agency depicted the Communists' battle order as follows: Army deployment from Tientsin to Taku, two armies of Nieh Yung-cheng; Shantung Province, three armies of the l1th Army Corps under Hsu Shih-yu; from northern Kiangsu to southern Chekiang, seven armies, three belonging to the 8th Army Corps commanded by Chen Shih-chieh, and four to the 9th Army Corps under Sung Shih-liang; from northern Fukien to northern Kwangtung, three armies under Yeh Fei, Commander of the 10th Army Corps; and in southern Kwangtung, three armies of Fan Chang, Commander of the 15th Army Corps.
According to the Communist table of organization, each army numbers roughly 35,000 men. The Navy comprises 114 warships and is divided into four regional commands.
The Communists have an air force of about 500 serviceable combat planes scattered in the following eight main centers: Tsingtao, Hsuchow, Shanghai, Hangchow, Foochow, Nanning, Canton and Yulin. -(Tatao News Agancy)
Changchun Undergoes Changes
According to the magazine China's Voice, Changchun, one of the earliest cities to be occupied by the Chinese Communists, has undergone certain changes which have given it a completely different appearance.
Even the Communist Party workers, who advocated wearing simple garb in the early days of the "liberation," now don the more expensive types of Lenin suits.
Prior to the "liberation," the local populace subsisted on a diet consisting of millet, rice and flour. Pork was a subsidiary food item. Today, only the coarser types of rice are made available for local consumption, and even these supplies are being rationed and controlled by the Northeast Communist authorities. Rationing of foodstuffs is confined to people who are "employed" by the Communists. The unemployed, mostly people who formerly worked for the Chinese Government or those classified as landlords, receive no food rations.
In Changchun today, members of the landlord class have been completely liquidated. Local inhabitants, impoverished by Communist "corruption" purges, have given up living in large houses. At one stage of the Communist occupation, large houses were systematically torn down to make way for the construction of small homes. Today, the modern city of Changchun, which took the Japanese 14 years to build, has the appearance of a small town.
Although the cinema houses are open, there are no longer long lines of people queuing up in front of theater entrances to purchase tickets. Public places, including parks, are seldom frequented by local residents who prefer to keep to their own houses. No one takes advantage of the ice-skating facilities in wintertime.
The situation in Changchun, since the "liberation," has undergone numerous changes, but one thing is certain, and that is, if there are no favorable developments on the international scene, Changchun, meaning "Perpetual Spring," will be transformed into Changtung, or "Perpetual Winter." -(China's Voice)
Newsman Bares "Begging Letter" Racket
Tan Ko-chor, General Manager of the Chung Shing Jih Pao, said that the Chinese Communists are launching a "begging letter" racket to lure overseas Chinese to send as much money as possible to their relatives on the mainland. He revealed that Malayan Chinese are being plagued with letters asking for money to buy fuel or food or to help their sick relatives on the mainland.
Mr. Tan said the Communist regime has complete control of the money sent to the mainland by Chinese in Southeast Asia and only a small proportion—not more than five per cent—reaches the addressees, the remainder being taken by the Communist authorities.
He said the Chinese Communists are seeing to it that every letter sent to Malaya and other Southeast Asian countries is couched in the most pathetic terms, laying stress on the hard ships of the dependents and harsh winter conditions in China.
Although acknowledgements from relatives give the correct amount remitted, he added, reliable information has it that the recipients are not getting the amounts they are supposed to get and that acknowledgements are made under duress.
Meanwhile, remittances from Malayan Chinese to China have fallen considerably, according to official Communist statistics. A sum of only S$1,978,000 was remitted from Singapore and the Federation of Malaya in January 1953 against nearly S$5,000,000 in January 1952.
More than 100 licensed remittance agents throughout Singapore have closed down because of "lack of business" since the Communist occupation of the mainland. -(Hongkong Standard)
Guerrillas Active on Mainland
More than half a million organized Nationalist guerrillas in five key areas of mainland China today are being supplied and equipped for the day when they will be called upon to rise in coordinated action with Nationalist regulars in a full-dress assault against the Chinese Communists.
Some of the units in the five key areas are now being supplied by air-drops, and improved methods of direct communication with the planning headquarters in Taiwan have been set up.
This information was supplied to United Press by one of Nationalist China's top strategists and planners, who knows probably, more than anyone else on what is going on behind the bamboo curtain, but who asked not to be identified.
The same source revealed that in addition to the island-based army, trained solely for combat operations, leaving specialized tasks to other units, there is a total of at least 580,000 organized guerrillas under five key commands reaching from southeast Kwangtung into the far northwest provinces of Sinkiang and Changhai.
Of this number, 120,000 are under direct command from Taiwan. The remaining 460,000 are divided among four independent commanders who, in turn, are responsible to the central headquarters in Taiwan.
For security reasons, the exact locations and number of men of the commands cannot be given. But roughly they are as follows:
1. eastern Sinkiang, western Chinghai; 2. northwest Szechuan; 3. southwest Yunnan; 4. northwest Kwangtung and south Chekiang; 5. extreme southeast Kwangtung.
The informant emphasized that these five concentrations are organized groups. Most of them are in contact with the central headquarters in Taiwan. In addition, there are hundreds of scattered roving groups whose total number cannot be estimated but who, according to the informant, can he counted on at the proper time. – (United Press)
Communists Resume Extortion Racket
The Vancouver News Herald reported on January 26 that Chinese Communists have resumed their extortion racket among Vancouver Chinese.
The newspaper said that telegraphic demands for money follow the same pattern as that used a year ago by the Communists who netted from Chinese in the United States and Canada millions of dollars.
Henry Leong, a News Herald reporter, said he had examined at least 20 recent telegrams received by the Vancouver Chinese community demanding ransom money and had learned that 30 others were being kept secret for fear of reprisals against relatives in China.
The paper accompanied the story with photographs of two telegrams from Hongkong to Dong Sai Chew, Vancouver merchant. One demanded $3,000 and the other $10,000 in Hongkong currency, presumably to buy off the Communists who are holding his 80-year-old mother and his widowed daughter-in-law as hostages.
The telegrams came from Dong's son-in-law in Hongkong who said the hostages were tortured into writing him and asking money to free them.
Dong was quoted by Leong as saying that he would refuse to send the money because another demand would follow immediately and that he was convinced that payment would not save his mother's life. Incidentally, Chinese in the United States are now forbidden by law to send money to the Chinese mainland in response to such demands. -(Vancouver News Herald)
Communists Build New Naval Base
The Chinese Communists are building their fourth South China naval base at Lungmen in Yamchow Bay, according to vernacular reports from Hongkong.
Russian advisers are reported to be helping in the work. Equipment and supplies are being dispatched from Canton by ship and construction of a dockyard, quays, workshops and other installations are proceeding rapidly, it was reported.
Wang Hung-kun, the Chief-of-Staff of the Chinese Communist navy, was believed to have visited Lungmen recently with a high-ranking Russian naval officer after an important conference in Canton.
The other three Chinese Communist naval bases in South China are Whampoa on the Pearl River south of Canton, Yulin on the southern tip of Hainan Island and Swatow.
Vernacular reports from Hongkong also carried stories of stepped-up Communist preparations all along the South China coast.
The Communists have created a restricted zone all along the seaboard of the three southern coastal provinces: Kwangtung, Fukien and Chekiang. Communist gunboats and smaller armed vessels are patrolling the coast, the same reports said.
A good deal of military construction work is going on in this restricted zone, including new airfields. The work is being supervised by Russian advisers and engineers and, it is reported, Chinese Communist army, navy and air personnel in the area have been substantially reinforced. -(Hongkong Standard)
Communists Prey on Businessmen
According to the magazine China's Voice, the Chinese Communists have, during the past three years, employed various extortion tactics to extract funds from members of China's mercantile community. This reign of terror may be divided into four stages.
In 1950, the Communists issued 10,000 shares of "government" bonds and compelled members of the commercial and industrial circles throughout the country to purchase 95 per cent of the total issue estimated at a value of US$85,000,000. This policy has succeeded in putting out of business countless merchants on the mainland.
Chinese businessmen again were directly responsible for a major portion of the funds solicited by the Communist leaders through "voluntary" donations in the early part of 1951. Including, "donations" for the purchase of aircraft and big guns, the Peiping regime has collected a grand total of US$230,000,000.
After one full year of fighting in Korea, the Communist 1952 budget has shown a tremendous deficit. Utilizing the "3-anti" and, "5-anti" corruption purges to mete out fines for violations of regulations, the Communists managed to squeeze funds out of the mainland businessmen to the tune of US$2,300,000,000. Today, in the principal cities, Communist workers are still exerting pressure on those "guilty" of corruption to pay their fines.
In 1953, the Communists will undoubtedly experience, extreme difficulty in collecting taxes from businessmen, for today the entire Chinese mercantile community is on the verge of bankruptcy. The "5-anti" corruption purge has struck a crippling blow against the commercial and industrial structures.
In view of the unfavorable financial situation, the Communist authorities have falsified the figures of the income of state-operated enterprises with the announcement that an increase of 89.83 per cent in revenues had been realized by these organizations in 1952 as compared with that of the previous year.
In conclusion, the Chinese Communists, in, the past three years, have in reality slowly strangled the goose that lays the golden eggs in their dealings with the businessmen on the mainland. Through their actions, they have clearly admitted the deplorable state of the country's finances. -(China's Voice)
Communist Five-Year Plan
According to the magazine Democratic Review, Communist China, with the formal announcement of the implementation of the first five-year plan, has shown a tendency to shift the focal point of its industrialization program from the Northeastern Provinces toward the northwestern part of the country.
According to official Communist reports, more than 60 per cent of the important projects for 1952 are located in Northwest China. The following are some of the major construction schemes:-
1. To complete the Tienshui-Lanchow railway to make through-connection with the Lunghai Railway;
2. To complete by 1955 the southern section of the Tienshui-Chengtu railway;
3. To proceed with construction work on the Lanchow-Sinkiang railway;
4. To develop the cities of Sian, Lanchow and Tientsin as light industry centers;
5. To develop the province of Sinkiang into an important base for retreat operations.
In view of the rapidly-changing international situation, the tendency to place more emphasis on the industrialization of Northwest China merits attention. Recent Communist reports bear out this tendency, stating that the populations of the cities of Sian, Tienshui, and Lanchow had been increased by 200,000, 88,000 and 150,000 respectively.
Other Communist reports state that capital investment in Northwest China has climbed steadily since 1950. In 1953, the Chinese Communist authorities will build seven new transportation routes to that part of China.
All these developments point to the Communist plan to prepare Northwest China as a possible fortress for retreat, while faraway Sinkiang might be transformed into a "New Yenan," -(Democratic Review)
The Water Lily
Plants and flowers to which we take a fancy are legion. Tao Yuen-ming of Ch'in was particularly fond of chrysanthemums. Ever since the beginning of Tang dynasty, peonies have become the favorite with the common people. But personally I find the water lilies especially to my liking; for they spring up from the ooze but not soiled, and they bathe in rippling waters without being coquettish. The inside of their stems is hollow; straight is their outside appearance. They do not straggle, nor do they branch. The farther away, the purer, their fragrance. They stand erect with an air of aloofness and dignity. They should be viewed from afar and must not be fondled with light heartedly.
I often opined that the chrysanthemum is a hermit among flowers, the peony is one distinguished by its pomp and show, and the water lily is the very gentleman among them, all. Alas, love for the chrysanthemum has been practically unheard of since Tao Yuen-ming's time. Who cares to concur with me in my love for water lilies? No wonder the peony enjoys a large following nowadays.
-Chow Teng-yih: On the Lovableness of the Water Lily.