First thing anyone learns about plump, suave Dr. H. H. Kung, Vice President and Finance Minister of China, is that he is the 75th direct descendant of Confucius.
A more useful family connection, however, is Dr. Kung's wife, eldest of the three famed Soong girls who with their brother have long been the real power behind the Nanking Government. By marrying Ailing ("Pleasant") Soong, smart Dr. Kung became brother-in-law at one crack of China's late, sainted Dr. Sun Yatsen, President Chiang Kai-shek and Finance Minster T. V. Soong. It was logical in 1933 when T. V. Soong quarreled with Chiang that Dr. Kung should succeed to his job. Regarded then as second-rate compared to brilliant "T. V.", Dr. Kung has since done a whacking good job, currently sits high at China's council tables. When Chiang was kidnapped last winter, Dr. Kung became acting President, ran the country through that highly explosive situation with a minimum of trouble. Then he bustled off to Europe as China's delegate to the Coronation of George VI.
This ceremonial visit served as an excellent curtain for a tremendous amount of dickering with European bigwigs. Swinging through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, France and Belgium, Dr. Kung was everywhere given the sort of excessively cordial reception he loves. This was because China's credit is better now than it has been for years and because Europe, notably Germany, desperately needs a market for exports. China's credit is currently high because Dr. Kung has begun to make good on a number of defaulted foreign loans, promises to take care of them all. Hitler, Göring and Dr. Schacht therefore licked their chops when he arrived in Berlin. They gave him an honorary degree, got an unnamed industrialist to cough up 100,000 Reichsmarks for Chinese students to visit Germany, finally hinted that Germany would love to export machinery and other goods to China if Dr. Kung would float another international loan to pay for them. But wily Dr. Kung shattered their hopes by saying that China has learned her lesson in international loans, is now interested only in commercial credits. Then he left for the U. S. where last week he speedily made a deal.