Misunderstandings and the Answe r From Our Changsha Correspondet.
Tuanho, Aug. 4.
For the past fortnight I have been the guest of Gen. Feng Yuhsiang, having been asked with some missionary and Chinese colleagues to take part in a summer Bible School for groups of.officers in the 11th Division. I have spent part of my time at Nanyuan, the headquarters, and part here at Tuanho.
North, south, east and west of Peking military camps were established for the defence of the capital at centres each about 20 li from the city gate. The eastern centre, being on the highroad from Tientsin and the sea, grew into @ great city; the other three have remained military establishments, and of these the most important to-day is the southern, Nanyuan. Gen. Feng was moved _to here last October, when he was made Inspector General ('(hien Yueh ssii")—the title by which he is always addressed or referred to. He has 30,000 troops living in barracks, built_around a huge drill area, some eight Zi from east to west, and three Ji from north to south. (There are aeroplane -hangars opening on to the west side of the ground; but the aircraft are not under Gen. Feng's control).
Tuanho is another 10 or!2 south of Nanyuan. It is one of the creations of that art-loving emperor, Chien Lung. About 1740. he dug out a circle of almost a mile in circumference, making a larger and smaller lake, only about three feet deep, which is fairly full of weed with some chuups of lotus.. With the dug out soil, he made a mound to circle the lake with a mild, switchback-sort of walk wi round, bordering the walk with crypto-~meria, and other trees. A dozen or more buildings, each having its own shape and shapeliness, lie round the lake; two courts surrounded by corridors and larger rooms stand screened from the main entrance by a barricade of rockery. All the buildings, and every beam and roof timber, including those of the corridors, are painted in the style which makes the Chien Lung period so justly famous. The place is not widely known, but it is a gem of considerable beauty—preferable in my amateur eyes to the much larger Zho Yuen, which in English has monopolized the title of The Summer Palace. Here for the past four weeks successive groups of from 20 to 40 officers, from the rank of major upwards, have been brought for a week's Bible study and recreation. Morning and evening are given to prayer meetings and Bible classes, the rest of the day to rest or whatever form of exercise appeals to the men. One of the brigade, generals has come with each group. The Inspector General comes out two or three times in the week, staying a night occasionally. Here we all dine at the same table, including the Inspector General when he comes. At Nanyuan, I have had my meals with him when he has been there; or the chief A. "'D. ©. has played the host in his absence.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.