The gradual improvement of Nanking's political position was shown during the year by the visit to the Capital of General Han Fu-chu, the Governor of Shantung on June 7, and of General Liu Hsiang of Szechuan in November. Negotiations in which Dz. Wang Chung-hui, Dr. LIH. Kung, and Sun Fo. took part result ed in the latter part of the year in more favourable relations with Can-' ton. South-west delegates _accordingly attended the Fifth Pleneary Session of the Central Executive Committee on December 10, but complete settlement of the issue at stake was not reached.
The return of Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang to China from Europe on January 8, gave General Chiang Kal-shek another opportunity which was taken by appointing the Young Marshal as Vice-Commander Bandit Suppression Troops in Honan, Hupeh and Anhwei on March 1: Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang address-himself to the task with energy fand no little success. He made it clear that he was working in direct subordination to. the Generalissimo and so showed his continued belief in the doctrine of national unity.
'The immediate task before the Government at the opening of the year was the suppression of the Fukien rebellion to which the once formidable 19th Route Army had Tent ils support, The rebels' ad~ vance into Chekiang was checked in the beginning of January by the recapture of Yengping and Kutien. Amoy and Foochow, with the operation of naval forces under Vice Admiral Chen Chi-liang, vere reoccupied on January 15, Mr. Eugene Chen and other oMcials of the rebel "government" saw that the game was up and escaped to Hong-Kong on January 17, The rebellion was officially declared at an end on January 28. General Chen Yi was appointed Governor of Fukien and Mr, Sun Hsi-wen Commissioner of Reconstruction, Ten thousand In-hourers were sent into Fukien to assist in restoring the devastated areas. Meanwhile, the 19th Route Army had Been turned out of Changchow, the rebel headquarters which surrendered to the Government troops on January 21, Remnants of the defeated troops, nobly the Goth Division, stubbornly held out at Lungyen. on February 8, it was reported that General Tsai Ting-kal, the leader of the 19th Route Aimy had escaped to Hongkong. He subsequently visited America. The Generalissimo absorbed 20,000 of the rebel troops into fis own forces. Canton absorbed another 6,000. of them. Although it was at one time feared that the Kiangsi Reds would assist the rebels, the Government troops by swiftly intervening, on the Kiangsi-Fukien border averted that complication. Nevertheless the rebellion diverted the Generalissimo's attention from the Communist cam~ paign for a fw weeks and it led, therefore, to further delay in developing the blockade from Nanchang.
Tu the North the activities of the Japanese were not the only precupation of the Government, Ningshia civil war broke out between General Sun Tien-ying and General Ma Kung-fuel, the Gov nor. General Sun captured Teng-Kow in the middle of January and, although he was formally dismissed from his command of the 41st Route Army by the Central Government February 8, he managed to give considerable trouble until on March 17 Tengkow was recaptured with the help of Shansi troops and his re. Urement Into private life, by way of Peking and Shanghai effected.
"Grey" Bandit's Escapade More devastating was the ing escapade of a former "grey" general and bandit, Liu Kuo-tang who with hardly more than 2,000 troops managed to harry Chihli, Honan and finally Shantung—his former hunting ground—for something like four months, in spite of the fact that 200,~ 000 troops were nominally garrisoning the area of his adventures, He actually showed signs of making for Loyang with the apparent object of linking up with the Reds in North [Seechuan. He doubled on his tracks to enter Shantung where finally his band was dispersed by the personal direction of his old enemy General Han Fu-chu, on April 22. Liu Kueltang was ten reported to have escaped two days later on a Japanese steamer to Manchoukuo.
The death of the Dalai Lama in 1923, had stimulated interest in Chinese relations with Tibet.
Panchen Lama's position as the chief ecclesiastical authority ted to negotia~ tions for his return to Lhasa. On April 23 a Tibetan delegation arrived: there to give him a formal invitation. He was still in China when the year ended, but in the meantime Genera Huang Mu-sung, representing the Chinese Government, visited Tibet and on June 29 was met by a delegation from Lhasa. There, General Huang paid respects to the memory of the late Dalai Lama and state back on his journey to Nanking by way of India on November 28. It was reported in August that a few infant Dalai Lama had been dis~ covered and been taken to Lhasa for the. time-honoured ceremonies, The persistent struggles between the war-lords of Szechuan bad allowed the Communists, under a determined leader, Hsu Hsiang-chen, to establish themselves in the North of that-Province. When finally General Lift Hsiang asserted his domin-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.