Feb. 27.
Somn of the most interesting] pictures that we have seen are those that the Carlton Theatre hag lately been showing of Marshal Chang Tso-in's- army. "That army, as readers of _an article we published a fortnight ago may remember, is estimated a strength of 200,000 and forty foreign instructors are said to be engaged in the training of it. "But no article can convey an idea of the] Miinchurian troops' efficiency] such os we get from the cinema. We see these troops drilling and in field manceuvres. The trenches they dig, their management. of the guns,. the jeamonflage they practise ' could] hardly be improved upon anywhere. "The air force is an important arm: one' picture shows the sky full of Marshal
comes the -grand inspection, a march past of cavalry, foot and artillery of all descriptions, Precise, smart and perfect in detail and in mass, - Tt is: truly, an awe-inspiring sight Now on the opposite page fo-day one of oar correspondents describes his visit to the camps General Feng Vu-hsiang. There are no pictures available," here to help the written word, but: this is certainly vivid Jenough to make the. reader pause. In equipment General Feng's troops may fall short of Marshal Chang's, for want of money, although one gathers that they have aeroplanes: and we hear nothing of foreign instructors. But in physical fitness, in drill and in devotion to their officers. (who appear fully. worthy of it) they ard clearly inferior to mone. And further they are possessed of that religious fervour—which would seem invariably to pro-duco the most terrible soldiers. Lot such men be inspired with the belief that their country needs them and it, will go hard with any troops whom they encounter.
General Feng Vu-hsiang is on the some side of the political hedge or at any rate vis-d-vis of Manchuria, as Marshal Wu Pei-fu. Tha latter's troops have long enjoyed the reputation of being the best trained and best led in China. Tt is recognized now that the victory over Chang Tso-lin's army in 1992, which gave them the best of th Prestige, was not quite a test. But if they are ax good as the other two forees meritioned above, they must be fairly formidable. It needs no great perception to seo that Marshal Wu Pei-fu is doing all that he jean to consolidate his power in Honan. His reach extends from the Navy at Tsingtao, for which he is endeavouring' to make the Tsingtao-Tsinanfu railway pay, to the rich province of Szechuan, over which his lieutenant General Yang Sen appears at last to have gained control. Ho makes friends with the salt merchants of Shantung; he transfers the civil power from Kaifeng to Loyang southwards, he is firmly supported by Tuchun Hsiao Yaos. nan in Hupeh. What can all this mean but strenuous preparation for the possibility of another struggle with Chang This article is not risking prophecy; it socky only to underline certain signs of the times whith ought not to be overlooked. Here is one more of a different stamp. Last Saturday a Chinese lady opened jin Shanghai a school for' Chin-éso girl law students, of whom sho has over 'a hundred, either in the school or taking instruction by correspondence. All over Chitia, girls, for whom but twenty' years ago. education of any kind would have been considered quite unnecessary, are now giving themselves ardently to every blanch of Jearning; and when a vote comes to mean anything at all, we may safely anticipate that women will. exercise it equally with men, "While the~ peasant try go on as they have done for centuries—a phenomenon not at all peculiar to China—through the classes just above there is an intellectual ferment at work which can- neither: be stilled "nor ignored. Its immediate manifestations may appear silly and" wrongtieaded.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.