Hankow. Dec, 31
"he Chinese destruction of Japanese property in Tsingtao ws in the nature of reprisals for outrages committed by the Japanese on Chines declared a spokesman of the Foreign Office here. The action of the Chinese military and civil authorities in bombing and humin Japanese establishments, he asserted, were the natural outcome of the that the Chinese forces took advantage of the heavy ra in order to push forward in the direction of Fuyang where there is a gap in the Japanese front owing to insufficient troops.
It is further stated here that the Japanese suffered heavy losses in the continuous fighting around Fuyang and that a part of their troops had been obliged to fall back towards Hangchow, followed by Chinese forces whose Vanguard is said to have reached a point some six miles southwest of the city.
Chinese guerilla bands are also said to be extremely active and to have gained some successes on the road from Kwangteh 4o Wushing, while some Chinese forces are stated to be marching on Changshin. wrath caused by the destruction that had marked the path of the Japanese invasion, According to the Chinese press here, Tsingtao has now been evacuated by about 80 pez cent. of the civil population and practically all shops have been closed. Japanese ance detachments are meet with determined resistance near Wei hsien between Tsinan and Tsingtao, it is reported here.—Trans-Ocean,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.