It may never be possible to know Jexactly what number of deaths leceurred from drowning. It was certain fearful tall andy famine and its ne:
very large, Disease took
companying scourges were expect-Jed to carry off greatly increasing numbers throughout the winter and spring. Tens of millions fied for temporary refuge to the homes of more fortunate relatives and friends Jon higher ground, Others lived as hest they could in temples, schools, lion "compounds, and in concentration camps composed of multitude of tiny rude shelters made with reeds or reed-matting, " Under such conditions it was exceedingly dificult to maintain sanitary com aitions. Only. heroic work by. an nadeniate nimbly of" hysiians, nurses and, sanitdg;, workers pre-de The occupation of strategic points outside the railway, zone with results noys familiar too lace." 'The 'Government of China Jappeaied to the League of Nations, successfully. impressed. the. need for' restraint. on the part of the People. Te was not s0 successful im enraging an. intensification, of the already active boycott of Japan Jose goods which had reached grave Proportions by the end of the ear. The Government recognised its com. plete inability to make a miliary Teply to phe move of the Japanese miny. IPdid not see the necessity, in the eiscumstances of combining, its appeal to the League with ate tempts to make direct. settlement ith Japen, It allowed Chinese opinion to develop extravagant, noe tions. of the effect of the appeal to the League. Disappointment evitably aroused resentment. Means while affairs in Canton had disposed the leaders there to. meet. Nanking. Fhaltway in an attempt. at recon ciliation, "Delegates. from. Canton met representatives of Nanking [Shanghai ina. "peace" conference, political "activity. gave rise t0 further attacks on the Government's policy." "In partiedlar the. student element was aroused, 'It received certain encouragement from affected communist. elements, and from "other quarters imbued with dislike of the existing regime. Tt developed into striker, into "mass fexeursions of students' to. Nanking. Barly in its course It removed one member from the Ministry—Dr, Ft. Wang who was attacked inh oxen office, beaten up-and to. Ser ously' injured that' his retirement immediately on the ground. of ile health was announced." The Government did not punish anyone for this outrage, The'students increased the fervour of their demonstrations favour of "wax" with Japan. In the event the Government was driven to resign, The "peace" Cone ference was. therefore "confronted with the practical need for. com Dleting Its labour In the last few days of the year the Plenary. Sex sion of the Central Executive Com.
In the light of later happenings, however, an important event was the Announcement on January 11 of the impending visit to Manchuria of Mr. Kimura for the purpose of discuss ing and settling outstanding points controversy over railway affairs in that region, Unfortunately Mr. Kimura's "visit proved fruitless owing to the evasiveness of the Manchurian authorities. Dr, Wang, meanwhile, was active, On Janus 35 the small Belgian concession at Tientsin was handed back to China. Dr.'Wang's speech on the occasion ingeniously held out the inducement, of improved trade relationships for the speedy adoption of China's view on the need for treaty revision, In the sue, extraterritoriality wax grad: ually' forced into the background Joy the pressure of the realities of the internal and external situation.
Canton y. Nanking Turning. now to the political position of the Chinese Government, should be observed that the grow. ing tension between General shek and the Canton elements Government led to an open breach between him and Mr. Hu Han-min, In the course of the dis-us in the Standing Committee of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang it was decided to appoint a committee to draft a Provisional ional Constitution for the course of the year negotiations with rer Great, Britain, the United States of tu! America and Japan for the abolition for maining period of "political itelage" pending the promulgation of extraterritoriality were carried "constitutional period." permanent constitution for the an swith greater or less intensity.|epposed by Miz Hu Han-min, This was the An announcement in January from! President of the Legislative, Washington that the then Chinese who carried much' weight with Minister, Dr. C. C. Wu, had reached a settlement on the subject was] Eh ton and was highly respected by.
eke overseas. His resignation Proved to be premature. Its interest was found to lie subsequently in th tact that the United States even tually discarded the idea of handling the issue in Washington. "was therefore lett to. the. which might proceed between the Anmeriean Minister in China and the Foreign Ministry at Nanking. Pablic interest. centred. greatly on the conversations which Sit Miles Law psen conducted at Nanking in. continua: tion of the discussion opened in 120. 'Controversy arose both in China and London on' the subject. By. the lo of the Sunimer it was gener= ally. understood that. rons progress ad been made 1 En agreement, The public 'May 4 by the Chinese Government of mandate prescribing. the resulation for courts on the abolition of ratervitoviality og from January 4, 1992, created a bad impression, view of the fact that iE seemed' to ignore the negotiations.
'A Mandate Postponed Jk was not formally veperted to the Governments of the Foreign Powers concerned, but. merely promulgated in the maliner usual for Government notifications exclusively of interest fe China. "Op Decener 2 the Gav ernment at Nanking: announced the date and' thus rectified. an ad; temporary postponement of the man
istrative Inpse, besides extricating Stself from an untenable position Dr. Wang's anxiety to solve' the ex: was eventually accepted, In his Mr. Lin Sen was appointed to Preside over the Legislative Yuan General Chiang Kai-shek proceeded with the "plans for the: Po saple's Convention, Mr. Hu Hat remained in Nanking in conditions practically amounting to internment, was recognised that General Chiang Kai-shek was taking grave risks in thus antagonizing 4 Powerful element in his Government, He evidently considered, however, th circumstances were too strong ind he seemed {0 obtain Justification for this view in the immediate ft was quickly apparent that Canton, of events although was deeply moved by the ai it. On [March 17 the Budget. was announced ith a deficit of $101,000,009 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1930, and for the fiscal half-year ended Decent 21, 1980, $96,000,000, The Fin-ice Minister ascribed the deficit to hei avy and uncontrollable military penditure which he sought ration.
Heavy amortization ps ments on the national debt, arising] mainly from the heavy fall in silver, were also contributory The Government on March 27 an-jounced, the appointment of the wombers of the Board of Trustees for the Sino-British Boxer Indemnity.
inds, the necessary legislation hav-been passed by the British Pariment on March 3. Tae Board] soon cane tot her and carried out Jdetericzated. In the North General] ented the outs SPhez very serous mittee appointed a mew Government /Shih Vu-shan was restive and visions epidemics. 'Tiisy "MSE of the Come fof the recrudescence of "grey fmission's service', 7""Gnder the the President of which was Mr, Lin Sen, formerly President' of " the general" activity to stir. Bes leadership of Dr. FRVcky Liu, direc Legislative Yuan, and the Chairman tween Nanking and Canton tery for-general of the p health ad-for the' Executive' Yuan and. virtual duels of we place. There' ministration of the ational Gov-Prime Minister was Mr, Sun Fo, were some movements of troops but Jernment, "As. season's "crops were The new Government's frst. man: martial ardour was damped by early dissensions in Canton and the vent away at also, mor of the date, was that. indefinitely postpone animals, "implements, eter Jconviction at Nanking that military, Hundreds of thousands. of bulking' ing the abolition of extraterior operations in the South were imwere a total loss since thelf"Walls Possible so long as the belt of com-(made either of rammed earth or Shanghai's Municipal Affairs munist-ridden districts remained be-sun-dried bricks) simply "melted"
The year was one of grent import-tween the thro centres. The Government made elaborate pians for erushut te water and roof Umber were lance for the Municipal Council of [swept away. Dykes, roads and other ithe International Settlement of ing the communists. Certain military public works have been badly dam-Shanghai, "The investigations con-[successes arete recorded by the 19th aged: The property Joss was almost [ducted by Mr. Justice Feetham cane Route Army and when General to an end, and his Report was
charge of the operations. nel Chiang Kalabok took personal The flood disaster seriously im. published in three instalments on peded the Government's military April 25, June 47, and July 10 re-result was small, By the end of the] effort to deal with communist banspectively. The' first instalment year considerable parts of Kiangsi and Hupeh were still under com dits. emed as if it filled the contained the summing up of iterness to the brim, with problem, the second the proposal munist control and there" were the continued heatility of Canton—fand the' third was an ad hoc deci ominous signs of a general linking which had resulted in the seizure ment examining the outside roads Middle Yangtze area. Grim pro-the communist zones i the lor the Customs and the retention problem. A fourth instalment deal by the malcontent administration of ting with miscellaneous, matters. phecies of a further development of red activities were current at the the revenue over and above that re-Promised by Mr. Justice Feetham, cond of the year. quired for the service of the foreign The integrity of the Eu the year ended. The Report at-Hat € ud of been, published. when Catastrophic Floods toms Administration was however tracted great attention in China and preserved by a "gentleman's agree-in Great Britain and America, and The increasing difficulties of the ment" between the two Governments, has been widely studied and com-Government were accentuated by the for by that. time the Canton ad: mented on, A feature of it was occurrence of floods on a catastroministration had assumed the style the author's strong insistence on Phically large scale during the of an independent government. the close connection of Shanghai's summer. Rainfall which was phe-Jexistence with the extraterritorial nomenaliy heavy, prolaned and wide-w-Sapanese Disputes system, The proposals for th spread sent down into the rivers Further troubles were in store. [gradual development of the Settl Central China sucha volume. of In July increasing friction between ment partnership, as outlined in the water that no economically feasible jeho Korean settlers and Chinese Report, depended on the retention Jdykes could have contained it. The peaeas in the, Kun province of fof extraterritoriality, modified it highest level in the Yangtze River manchuria had developed alarming-might be, in accordance with' the at Hankow on August 19 was 53.6, ly. At Wanpaoshan Koreans were Jevadual approach to abolition, {feet above the Customs gauge zero—killed in a dispute over land. Later The importance of the Report 4 full yard higher than that of any in Korea anti-Chinese riots broke previously recorded flood. "An inland Jout and in the beginning of Jaly nnd the authority tahind it evoked Luke was created, 960 miles I some anxiety when it was pere long|over 100 Chinese were reported [that in official circles there was a with an average width of forty miles, to be killed. This news caused tendency to belittle the electment Seriously flooded areas in the Yang-great indignation in China. The zo, Huai and Grand Canal regions Jand to declare that it was belated, feoyeott weapon was applied and This was strongly resisted and ques: jan additional 8,000 square miles, tora 24000 square miles) at least this began a second stage in the tions were asked in the House of tension between the two nations.
Commons, eliciting from the For-were less seriously flooded. There The disappearance Captain gri Secretary an admission of the have also been extensive flood in komura in Manchuria and the sub-importance of Mx. Justice Fectham's other sections of China this year sequent revelation that he had been findings, Jabout which accurate information murdered by Chinese soldiers came In his fist Report Mr. Justice still unavailable. The inundations into the picture. The negotiations jin Central and East China were not Feetham paid a tribute to the unique which Mr, Kimura "had hoped. to Jand essential part in the economic only extraordinary in the size of bring to a' successful issue over the fife of China as a whole played by the areas submerged, but also in jnonfulfiment by the Chinese of cer-ithe Settlement, The second volume their duration. The waters at tain railway agreements in. Oat Jshowed how, by definitely extending Hankow on October 19 had dropped had broken down. The al {the principle of international pait= to a level of 41.1 feet, a decrease rption of Marshal Chang Hsuehnership, the ultimate goal of Chis height of only 125' feet in the liang in the polities of China south two months after the record level nese sovereign control - could ibe of the Great Wall continued. His smoothly reached and, in the proaratervitorial problem was. marked his delivery'of a speech in Shang hai on February 13, when he expressed the hope (hat China would et-be forced "to adapt any measure obtain her objective other than that raf friendly negotiation." ite Sellowed this up two months later swith a-warning that the negotiations [i Would be hell by the Chinese Gov-the year.
The People's Convention The financial situation could re-little sustained attention from the ie Governmient. ow: the was reached. It is normal behaviour for the Yangtze to be high for four or five months each year. This matiers Tittle when the dykes are Jadequate; in. bad flood years, how. lever, when the waters get over the brief stay at Mukden early in the year was speedily followed by his return to Peking and thus the Japa ese authorities found it difficult. to obtain in Manchuria the close attention which they desired for the Jaskes, the slow recession of the n iver gent representations. Nor prevents drainage of flooded ares Bed ind the dykes-for many months. This situation adds greatly to the Jeevastation and distress, oct. Japanese patience was ex-joes, notable services' be rendered the people of China. The pro: posals suggested no startling ovations; they were evelutionaxy. Their practicability could be judged from the fact that, in certain Fey spects, the Council's recent decisions bad initiated action which anticipated them. Mr. Justice Feetham recognised that the apparent ability of the Powers in the past
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.