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Sinkiang, a province of barren wastes and rich oases 2,000 miles northwest of Nanking, was still the scene last week of savage guerrilla warfare between wild-eyed Moslem tribesmen and the better equipped Chinese troops sent out to rule them. Sinkiang paper money was worth 3% of its face value. But the threatened secession of Sinkiang from China to join the Soviet Union seemed to have been averted, partly due to the daring of Foreign Minister Lo Wen-kan of Nanking who has just led a "pacification mission" to and from these howling wilds.
"Conditions were appalling." reported Mr. Lo. "Consider that for nearly three years the important trade routes between Sinkiang and ourselves were cut off by disturbed conditions. Consequently practically all of Sinkiang's exportable output was routed to the only remaining outlet— the Soviet Union."
The Chinese Governor, accused by Mr. Lo of having "unwarrantably oppressed" the Moslems of Sinkiang and of flirting politically with Moscow, sat in a Nanking jail last week. He had been seized by soldiers whom Generalissimo Chiang sent along with Mr. Lo. In view of the extreme remoteness of the province, Chiang's Council of Generals felt justified in ignoring last week's fresh rumors of massacre and insurrection in Sinkiang.
Szechwan, about 1,000 miles from Nanking, was in revolt last week against Governor Liu Hsiang who got his job last year by heading a successful revolt against his uncle, then Governor Liu Wen-hui. Chinese sometimes remark, with but slight exaggeration, that "Szechwan has been in revolt for the last 20 years." Since Nephew Liu seemed to be holding his own against the insurgents Chiang's Council of Generals wisely left him to hold down if he can Uncle Liu's erstwhile seat.
Canton gave the Council of Generals pause. It is China's fourth largest city and the "Mother of Revolutions." Generalissimo Chiang got his start in Canton under "China's George Washington," the late sainted Dr. Sun Yatsen. It was from Canton that Chiang marched north to conquer all China—partly with the aid of Russian and Chinese propagandists trained in Moscow who fomented disunion in his Army's path. Marching on to victory, the Generalissimo paid scant attention for several years to the seeds of Sovietism which sprouted and grew strong among Chinese in his wake.
In the last few years the Nanking Government has paid a subsidy to the rival Canton Government which has always taken the money while pulsating with opposition—now secret, now blatant—to Generalissimo Chiang. Last week Canton's blatancy became a scream as her Government, headed by General Chen Chi-tang, who had just received an especially large subsidy in the hope of squaring him, telegraphed to Nanking a demand that the Generalissimo resign.