It seems curious to those who know the place that Yenan should have become the Mecca of Chinese enthusiastic youth. 16 nas stated at one time that 700 students a week were trekking thither from all parts of China, expecting to find Utopia or at Jeast a promise of N. A number of foreigners have visited the place this summer and all have been impressed with the sincerity of the leaders, though opinions differ as to the value of what is being done there.
Yenan is a small town, formerly with a population of 3,000. It lies among Loess hills at the junction of three valleys in a very thinly peopled country, The influx of visitors has Yenan is indeed being used as a central hall for meetings but there is no other place suitable and other mission property has been respected. In this church one visitor saw a play acted by the students representing Hitler and Mussolini first fraternizing and then being haunted by Abyssinian and Spanish ghosts. Econo-tically the Communist administration, while considering the poorest, exacts some good from the thrifty peason! in theory of so called "contribution:
The wheat in Shensi has this year been exceptionally good though the harvest was much hindered by rain.
Abundance of food has given the people hope even in these dangerous times and somewhat checked the rising cost of living.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.