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His long dialectical speeches have often foretold new twists & turns in the Red dragon's journey. Mao once called him a "consistently correct" Communist, which is praise of a special order. He has moved much faster than other district leaders to collectivize farming and socialize industry. In the structure of its government and the conduct of its business, the Northeast has more autonomy than the other five districts making up Red China. It was Kao, rather than a delegation from Peking, who went to Moscow and negotiated the Manchurian-Soviet trade agreement of 1949. Until recently, the Northeast even had its own currency.
The Russians. On top of all that, Manchuria has the Russians—thousands of them scattered through cities and factories, as "technical advisers"; other thousands at the airfields and depots where Chinese are being trained to fly Russian jets and use Russian armaments; additional thousands working as everything from top executives to lowly trackmen on the vital Manchurian railways, which Soviet Russia operates jointly with the Chinese Communists.
For centuries Manchuria has been coveted by both peoples; it is, in fact, the marriage couch of Soviet and Chinese Communism. It may provide the first test of whether the marriage will last or fail. In Dairen and Port Arthur are stationed at least 30,000 Soviet troops under the Yalta settlement, which gave Russia the use of the two ports and a half-share in the railroads. The Russian troops are supposed to pull out in December 1952.
Chinese propagandists, unaware of the connotation that George Orwell gave the phrase, call their Russian guests "Big Brothers," and rely on the Russians to teach them how to expand and run their industry and transport. If the Russians do withdraw as promised, thousands of Big Brothers will undoubtedly remain behind —in the guise of technical advisers—to make sure that Manchuria does not stray from the Russian sphere. Kao Kang has, in effect, two bosses looking on, and so far, seems to be satisfying both.