Tsingtao, Dec, 28.
The first batch of American nationals to evacuate Tsingtao on the advice of the State Department at Washington, sailed for Shanghai this morning in the United States gunboat Sacramento, which carried about 45 passengers, In view of the Japanese threat to Tsingtao. the Chinese forces on the Shantung Railway are reported to have blown up all bridges in the path of their adversaries, Down-town Tsingtao, usually teeming with Jife, now presents a forlorn picture. Many shops have put up their shutters, all the Chinese banks are closed, and very few people are to be seen on the streets. All foreign shops, however, are remaining open, The city is being very heavily guarded by police armed with muskets, and curfew is still being enforced from 7 p.m, to 5 am.
A strict censorship of wireless and cable communications is being immosed by the Chinese authorities, Observers here believe that the Japanese will converge on Tsingtao by land and sea, It is reliably reported that Weihsien. an important railway town between Tsingtao and Tsinanfu, was bombed on Sunday, and that a bridge on this side of Weihsien has been blown up by the Chinese to delay the advance of the Japanese, Chinese officials here deny the allegation that they intend blowing up the waterworks, All officials, they say, are to stay at their posts, and the newly-appointed Commissioner of Police, Col. Liao An-pang, "will remain in Tsingtao even if Japanese troops reach the city, With this in view, Col, Liao is said to have made his will, Since the laying of the boom across the harbour, all vessels are staying in the Bay, and passengers wishing to embark are compelled to take sampans, Taking advantage of this, sampan owners are charging as high as $5 per person for a trip from the harbour to the Bay.
Regarding the inclusion of Tsingtao in-the Japanese blockade, the manager of a British shipping firm here, interviewed by Reuter, said that it would not alter the shipping tuation in Tsingtao, as no Chinese vessels had called here for months, Despite the tense situation, the foreign community celebrated Christmas as usual, On Christmas night curfew was not enforced until midnight, instead of the usual hour of 7 p.m.—Reuter
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