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1936, Fall - Unexpected Death of Mao Tse-tung
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[size=-2]The original issue of the new LIFE magazine, depicting Fort Peck Dam[/size]
3 October: Ma Buqing announced over the wireless today that the Ma Clique has launched a final war of extermination against the Communist Chinese led by Mao Tse-tung out of Yan`an. This move allegedly has the full support of Chiang Kai-shek down in Nanking. The only thing I find odd about this, however, is that none of the Ma generals have forces anywhere near Yan`an while Chiang has divisions piled up all along the border. I don’t know what Buqing’s plans are, but they look to involve not firing a shot. I suppose Sun Tzu would heartily approve.
[size=-2]Chiang was prepared for a full-out assault, but the Reds gave up immediately[/size]
6 October: Chiang’s troops marched into Yan`an today completely unopposed. From what I’ve heard, Mao Tse-tung was immediately turned over by the local Communist Party officials and executed by Chiang. Word on the street is that Chiang cut a deal with the Reds- he would stop persecuting them and give them the province they now hold to turn into a semi-autonomous worker’s paradise, and they give up Mao for crimes against the Republic of China. What specific crimes these might be, I can’t imagine, since the Reds haven’t been any worse than any of the other various factions around the countryside. There seems to have been a show trial that lasted an hour and ended with the sentencing and execution of Mao. So Chiang has finally completed his purge of the Communists that he started back in 1926, although he is allowing the Party to continue to exist. I don’t know how wise of a move that might be. Stalin is bound to be pretty upset that Chiang refused his help back in the 20s, and as long as there are Reds in China anywhere, they are a potential knife at the throat of whoever plans to rule the country.
[size=-2]The final photograph of Mao Tse-tung[/size]
This whole episode also indirectly caused a major fight over at the public house. I had asked Konrad to run the local announcements over the wireless so we could keep track of what was happening over in Yan`an. However, back in the States, they were running the final game of the 1936 World Series this same day. Crosetti insisted that we listen to the game, and most of the expats backed him up, but many of the locals were far more concerned with what was happening with Mao (obviously). Things were about to get pretty ugly but I told Konrad to play the game and I let the locals know I would be getting wires regarding any urgent events from my hotel. I then spent the day in eager anticipation of news. By the time word came in that Chiang had seized Yan`an and Mao, the game was over and the Yankee fans were celebrating the victory over the Giants. Having that plus the news I had collected kept people celebrating well into the night. I had actually been following the Series before Chiang became active. The second game that took place on October 2nd was particularly exciting. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning (of course), Hank Leiber hit a ball that would have been a home run, but newcomer Yankee fielder Joe DiMaggio ran off the field and up the clubhouse steps to get it. The story soon spread that he was congratulated by President Roosevelt for this catch, the President having attended the game. You can imagine Crosetti’s reactions when the announcer called this play over the wireless.
7 October: More shocks over the wireless, and this time not interrupted with a ball game. Ma Hongkui has announced that Tibet is officially considered to be a region in rebellion against the rightful government of China and that all necessary actions will be taken by the Ma Clique to assist that government in suppressing this rebellion (his statement is even more obfuscated in the original Mandarin). The Militia divisions guarding the city are now in a state of high alert and are constantly scanning the roads to the west.
Some of the other rhetoric spewed out by Hongkui highlights the fact that the lines that divide China today are partially ethnic as well as sectional. Off in the northeast, you have the Manchus who tossed out the Han Chinese’s Ming dynasty which in its turn had overthrown the Mongol’s Yuan dynasty. The Han Chinese are by far the most numerous group and have pride of place of sorts as being the ones from where Chinese civilization sprung up along the Yellow and Yangtze River valleys. Up north you have the Mongols, which are mainly a collection of different tribes, and then to the west here you have the Hui Chinese. The Hui Chinese are the descendants of traders along the old Silk Road who intermingled with the Han Chinese, and are primarily Moslems. In the far west we have the Tibetans and the mixture of various Turkic races such as the Uighurs that make Sinkiang their home.
Tibet was an independent kingdom long into antiquity but went into a serious decline in the 9th century. It was conquered during the general Mongol expansion in the 1200s, and when that Empire fell apart after the death of Genghis Khan it became nominally part of China under the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. The Mongols maintained limited control over the area (bad roads are a perennial problem as old as time) which became even more lax under the Ming. The Qing tightened things up a little bit but the region was still largely autonomous up through the opening of the 20th century.
The 13th Dalai Lama, who is the religious and political ruler of the country, spent the early years of the century being involved in power plays between Russia and Great Britain as those two nations competed for dominance in Central Asia. Naturally this didn’t endear him with the Qing, who sent troops to reassert Chinese authority in 1910. He fled to India but came back in 1913 after the Qing dynasty was overthrown in Sun Yat-sen’s Xinhai Revolution, and declared the outright independence of Tibet. Due to the ongoing troubles in China proper, he was able to maintain this independence without conflict up through 1932, when Chiang dispatched Ma Bufang and a sizeable army to take control for China once again. Ma Bufang was close to winning, but British pressure on Chiang compelled him to order Bufang to sign a treaty with the Tibetans that has left them nominally independent. But it would appear that the Mas are going to take advantage of the current wave of peace sentiments sweeping Great Britain and renounce the treaty. The 13th Dalai Lama died at the end `33, I wonder if the 14th Lama will prove to have the same acumen his predecessor did, but since he’s only a boy
[size=-2][1][/size], we may never find out. He’ll probably need twice as much skill though, if he needs to make up for not having any British support against the Mas in this go-round.
[size=-2]The 13th Dalai Lama (center, seated) during his Indian exile[/size]
20 October: I received a surprise visit from Chiang Kai-shek today. He came to town to have a meeting with the Ma families and had heard (from Henry, I suppose) that I was here. He seemed to be a little disappointed in the quality of my hotel and suggested I come over to meet with him. I suspect he is quite annoyed with Ma Buqing for not supporting him in his campaign against Mao. Of course, I don’t know if what happened even qualifies really as a `campaign`, as such, but the Mas were very conspicuous by their absence.
I didn’t really enjoy the meeting with Chiang, and frankly, I never have all the times I’ve met him. He never shows the slightest interest in Western culture beyond what he needs to be polite. Most of the conversation was steered towards trying to get me to use my influence on Henry to have Henry in his turn use his influence in Washington to have more American dollars come China’s way... well, Chiang’s way. This was all unnecessary anyway as I know Henry already does all he can on Chiang’s behalf. I was more than happy to have this meeting cut short by the arrival of some messages for Chiang that forced him to end the evening early. I will however say that the food provided was quite excellent. Peter is in town and I think I might be able to start up some Pinochle tonight if I can get to the public house fast enough.
31 October: I had the idea of trying to explain the concept of Hallowe`en to some of the people who frequent The Americaine, but thought better of it. The neighborhood here is a little too seedy for children to try and go guising, and even if they did, there aren’t a lot of sweets shops around for the adults to get any decent treats. None of the patrons from the States brought it up, so I let the matter lie as well.
4 November: I stayed up late at The Americaine this evening trying to work on an article for Henry about the salt trade in Golumd. I’ve been trying to find an interesting angle on it by linking into the ongoing trade China had with the West along the Silk Road that predated Roman times. I haven’t been happy with what I have written and will probably trash my notes. The only real fun for this evening was hanging out with Sheng Jie, one of Konrad’s new waitresses that he hired a short while back. She’s a tiny slip of a thing, only 152cm maybe, and keeps her shiny dark hair cut short in the usual style of the ladies these days. We were up past 3am while she was cleaning the public house and I was trying to write. I made her laugh a little by doing several off-key renderings of songs from
The Mikado, which I usually only do when I’ve had a few... but I didn’t. Did I? Booze and writing don’t usually mix, so needless to say, I didn’t get too much work done. I asked Jie to keep her ears open in case Konrad ever let anything slip about the lady he has in the picture behind the bar, but since he is still struggling with Chinese, I doubt he’d let anything slip she would understand. But she giggled a lot and seemed to think it is all great fun to pretend to be a spy. Incidentally, I have been struggling to get Konrad to pick up some Mandarin one or two nights a week, but it hasn’t gone well. I’ve been having far better luck learning some German from him... maybe I should report him to the Lord High Executioner for his lack of academic effort? Or the Lord Chief Justice? Ha-ha! Anyway, Konrad won’t be enrolling in Yale anytime soon. Maybe Harvard...
5 November: Stayed in bed most of today trying to get over my hangover. Reviewed my diary entry and the article I was trying to write, and only understood about half of it. Best not to junk all of it, though, since it might be fun to re-read and have a laugh at some day.
18 November: Spain is officially in a state of Civil War. This is a conflict that has been brewing for most of the decade. Spain was hit hard (like everyone else, really) by the Great Depression and the king there was out of favor with the people. Although at that time still a constitutional monarchy, the government that was voted into power in 1931 called a constitutional convention to end the monarchy and also disenfranchise the other pillar of Spanish society, the Catholic Church. This made the new Republic popular with some factions of the people, but made it unpopular with key figures in the Army who are loyal to the older institutions. General Francisco Franco attempted a coup from his base in Spanish Morocco, but the Republican government in Madrid had enough support to hold out and escalate the situation into all-out war. It is now Franco’s forces, calling themselves the Nationalists, fighting from their bases in the countryside against the Republican government based in the major cities. Usually in cases of `country vs. city` wars, the countryside wins, since the cities can’t survive without them if they have no help. General Franco is a bit of an odd character. I heard a story about him once that during an inspection of a field mess in Morocco, a soldier waved a bowl of stew at him while complaining about it. Some of the stew sloshed on the general’s uniform. Franco sampled the stew, agreed it was terrible and promised to have it taken care of, and then had the soldier shot.
[size=-2]Spain at the start of its Civil War[/size]
24 November: Had a wire today from Henry, who was too excited to wait. The first issue of the re-launched LIFE magazine hit the streets today (which is the 23rd in the States, due to the time difference from China). I was too late to get any of my own work in, worse luck, but it is thrilling nonetheless. Henry has promised to make sure that the issues come my way on a regular basis, but that could mean I see none at all and then get a bundle of four or five all at once. His first cover features the dam at Fort Peck, Montana. Not quite the most inspirational of images, and I certainly would have picked Hoover Dam if I was going to pick a dam at all. Hoover has a far more interesting story behind it and was only just recently dedicated in `35, too. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the inside material is far more interesting after I finally get a copy out here. I’d hate to see this great experiment end up stillborn. Oh, and while I was in communication with Henry I took the time to wish him a happy Thanksgiving, which the Americans should start celebrating soon
[size=-2][2][/size].
7 December: Very interesting day today. There was a lot of activity outside the city, with plenty of peasant workers trying to clear away a suitable space to make an airfield. At one side some construction crews are working on erecting what looks like a tower to control air traffic. While I was out there watching and deciding if I should take any shots, a plane came down and landed on the dirt road leading up to what I now assume will be Golmud’s first airport. I managed to have a few words with the pilot and he was gracious enough to let me snap a photo since I was already out with my camera. He introduced himself as Captain Claire Chennault and had just arrived from the States last week. It looks like Chiang may be interested in trying to purchase aviation assets from America and Chennault was sent to help him properly evaluate his needs. Chiang then sent him on to do a quick tour of the border provinces. Chennault mentioned that it is well for Chiang that he is doing this survey, since he has no real concept of what it means to maintain an air force. It isn’t enough to just say you want to buy planes; you also need to create a support network to maintain, fuel, and arm them, let alone produce pilots.
Later in the evening I took our guest over to The Americaine where he was very happy to meet some of the other expats. During our discussions he mentioned that he had been with the Army Air Corps since the Great War, but recurring bouts with bronchitis were making it more likely he would be permanently grounded. If that happened, he said, he’d probably retire. We were also curious to know how much he was enjoying China and his reactions were quite positive, hinting that he might like to come back in the future.
[size=-2]Captain Claire Chennault of the United States Army Air Corps[/size]
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[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. The 14th Dalai Lama was born July 6th, 1935
2. Since 1957 Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October. From 1931 - 1957 it was set each year by proclamation, except in 1935 when it was canceled due to a general election. In 1936 it fell on October 12th[/size]
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