The recruiting and training of soldiers for the front goes on steqduy. Commodious barracks built here by Yuan Shih-kai on the site of a former Tai-ping fortress provide accommodation for the men and mere boys (some hardly ove® Seventeen) drilling constantly. AS soon as one lot are ready off they go to make room for the next. Un= Hforms and equipment seem to be an improvement on that of former years, When asked where they are any reply is made at it is usually "First to Nanking then, to the front."
During 1927-1928 the attitude of the average soldier was insolent, apparently sullen of late, suge gesting resentment of some ' sort. In the Manchu regime, the attitude of the highest local official determinced that of his yamen, thence it wi reflected from the streets and of the people. In the early, of the Republic, the students seemed to be the index of public opinion. They left the class rooms their country and filled the with banner mottoes wall and posters, When they returned to books and teachers, the Party (locally the Tang-pu)' supposedly voiced and directed the collective mind. Just now, whatever the people feel or think, it looks as if the soldier on the battlefield is to decide Tithe course of things.
Consequently, however, much the [Chinese people profess to dislike or to despise the military profession, they have learned to have a very wholesome fear of soldiers, whether under discipline, on retreat, or roving in Inwless band:
Most Chinese are practical and keen for personal advantage. Some of this kind say "It is better to pay half one's earnings to secure real protection, than to avoid payment and loss
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