The Kuomintang-dying, dead!

Media

Part of National Weekly

Title: The Kuomintang-dying, dead!
Language: English
Year: 1949
Rights
Fulltext: October~. 1949 NATION AL WEEKLY Page 21 '{he Kuomintang-Dying, Dead! But Chiang .Still Commands The Masses' Respect By Henry Bough Reuters Corresp6ndent China's 450 million people are today wi1tnessing the dis .. integration of tile Kuomintang Party, which has rufod , for r.early a quarter of a c~n tury. The Par.ty is fast disintegrating from major wounds inflicted by its former a..•fsociate~. Mao ~l'se-tung, Chou En.Jai and Chn Teh, and mit1or stabi; from its !"ank aud file. The K11omintanR' is on It~ death bed in Canton city from where it set out b unify China by overcoming w~r lordism in North China. fronicatly, the same Partv which almost unified G'1ina for t.he first time in its lon'1; historv with the aid of Sovie~ Ru..;sian military and political advisers. is todav fachit eclin•e through the militarv stre;;gth of rthe Chinese f\-r.1munist Party. 1,9-05 the name was changed to '''..:.hina Hrotherhooa Society'' whe.~ Sun Yait-se11 was in poHtical exife in Japan. It was first known by it5 present. name in 19.12, a year af-. ter the overthrow ot 'the Man~hus and a Republfo wa~ declm~d in China. Dr. Sun's dreams of a unified and stron.lr Republican Chinra soor. fad'cd ancl for year!i a struggle raged :.i.:nonS? the variou-:4 warlordR for Rllpre~nacy in North and Central China. The Kuomiritans:'( moved down sc,uth, setting up headt~t1artc:r!' in Cant:-in anrl formed an independent gov· ernment. An army wa3 built up in Canton under the guidancl~ or GalPn, a well-hnow11 Soviet Russian genernl ~lit that time. while Borodin took char1~e of thP. political machinery. \Vhen Sun Ya.it-sen died fo Peipir.g in 1925, there r.a.me on rhe scene a young officer -Chiang Kai-shek, wiin WRS unt;l 1 hen \irtuallv unkc:TJown amor • .(! the older Kuomintang members. C!nang Kai-shek, the h !T< of ( l:ina:•s hundreds of m'.1lio!1 for more than a d·~cad•. is today a virtual refugl}r ~.J1 ITaiwan Island with o-:-!ly ;,; fairt1 .hope that a third W t°)J'J ~ W s.r in the near future nmy restore the forttunes of +he Nationalists. Wr.atev.;::!" E'xtremely sl..:~ der hopes .the NationaHs.ts mav have of withstanding the Chinese Commun:i~ts, the Kuomintang •P&llty cannot survive, according to wf!llinformed non-partisan C!":inese sources in Hongkon~·. They said that the party, as rep;:-e~ented by Chiang KaisheK. T. V. ·Soong •. Ch~n Lifu and H. H. Kung. who havP. directed it~ itestiny and p0licies since the -death--of Dr Sun Yat-sen in 192'5, canhn1be revived. · There is c;til: some degree of loyalty amongst the Chinese pecple for Chian~ Kai-shek, whom the people believed led· ChiTreaty of PI-Chinese Amity, with Presldent Quirino, left, and Chinese Legation SPcretary Pichi Sun. In 1926 as Commander-inChie:l of th1 Norrfhern Expedition. Chiang, with the RusE1ia11 aides, Galen and B0rodin. swept all before him ar.rl emerged victorious in Nanna to victory, with Allied help, against the Japanese. But. for other leaders of the Kuomin:tang, there is ve!"y little sympathy among the masses. However, there is a noticeable change in the attitude of the ma:;ses towards the Chinese Communist Party, Before thcfr conquesit of cities like Peiping, Tientsin and Shanghai, Mao Tse-tun11: and his associlltes were acclaime:l as possible saviours •1f the country. But many Chinese havin.sl lived under Com.mu• !nist reginws in North and Ceuti·al C!1!na "\re now ri-sil- king. when: a Nationi:'l GovIusionc(l. ernme-nt was proclaimed. Amon_g U1e merchants, .if a From then on the st,:ugglP strai~~ht v.ite were taken to- insidP the Kuomintansr began. day to choose between Na- Chiang turned to the Right, tiom:il;sm and Communism. dismi~sed' his Russian odvls.ers the ballot would very likely and ~he leftwing groups were be in favor of the 0 :foimer, gradually eli,ninated- from tho<.i:th the Kuominta~g- is the Party. still remember-ed fo1· i;ts cor- With Chian£' firmly er.. ruption and misrule. It. is a trenched as the successor of quest-ion '.lf the lesser evil. Sun Yat-s:m and his GovernThe Kuomintang was menf: rc.;,ignized bv th~ foundcrl bv Dr. Sun Yat-sen \vm.·l·J powers. the "Soon..: (regarded as "Father of the Dym1:::ty" was founde:J anr! Repubic) in Macao in 1892 rulecl China for 20 years tl"and was then known a<; ''Re·· til the Generalissimo's reti1·Pgenerate China Society." In • (Continued on page 34) Page 34 WHAT DO ... (Continued from page 14) was asked by the then furious professor whose facti a!~ ready had become flush lobsterred, apparently disappointed for the failure of the other students to give a correct answer, >.tll "!.. managi!d to say was: "Sorry, Professor, but I did not finish reading all the books you have :is•drned us · to read." Rut .after breathing deeply to rega:n my comvosure, I added: "All I know is that women had ah \\'ay~ wanted to be superior to men." The sneezing professor E:tanding against his desk quickly interpos('d: "There you_ a1~;~ class. Superiority of women ove1· mEn, the man from the Philippines ;o:!ays, is what the fo1·mer likes most in the latter. It's conect." Afte.r a moment, the professor asked me. "'Mr. Cruz, arc ,-ou · :married?" I said no. "Why?" he asked again. ''Ii !ike to b-~ in circulation for a wnile. I ·repiied meeklv." The class ch'Uckied If you think the way my prof P.ssor did at that timt: the riddl~ for you about menwomen relationship is already solved. If vou don't, t~e!l, all t can say is that wome:1 do wh'at thev do because they fig;u.re that beeause they are more or less responsible for bringing us up, men, in this world the right to guide our lives - even our destbjesis also theirs. So. the eternal conflict! Which brin~s us now to that famous quPstion again, which came first: the ~gg or the hen? Or this: w!:'l is 'higher the crowned kfr.g or the man who crowried hm ? But the truth of the matter is that men ·;til~ refuse to give up thei1· ~-uperiorit:;r complex idea over wome , either because there will be more war than we can hand!c or the· (wcme ) are not q~ite rip~ - or mavi>P hav1> nnt enough spr .. ~ time --- fo handle th-~ 1ffairs of t.ht: nation. NATIONAL WEEKLY YOU TOO ... (Continued from page 23) their college papers, receive A's~ Don't let your ter.e.~s worry you. Let it be just as you think it right. Damon Runyon's tenses and style are quite unusual yet he makes millions and turns out best sellers. Who knows that you too might turn out a new literary styLe as DR did? Or you may be a part of that force who, by continu;;i lly doinj!' what is wrong, p1·odt!ces good. Young man (the oltl's are not excluded), YOU TOO CAN WRITE. You can if-you will, you can if you try. Anybody, \;ho has pati:~nce anid tries hard enough, can write. Anybody can learn how to write in a practical way, j,ust !I." anybody can learn how to swim. Nor can anybody learn how to Rwim without trying how. Therefore, try. You may not be Just "dashing things off" or your ideas m~y liot com?. out "like a flash," so to say. You may not dupli · cate Rouget de L'I5e who composed "Miar<:ieilles'' at c-ne sitting with words and all. or Bret Harte w:th his marvellous story "Marvelous Blossom'·' at one single sitting too, or do what Beckford did. You mav not be famihar with the Shakespeare-:1.a classic,, with the Ion?: rolling sentences of Gibbon;s anrl Macaulay that swe·ep alon~ like the \\"ave5 on the ch'aunc! beaches, or the short sentences of Scripture tha.t tick likf> the clock of time. Nevertheless. write down vom· thoughts and put aside that cloak of ~hyness. You cannot \Hite ;f you do not and' will not write. When you feel like it "r vou are in the mood (not for. love or calypso this time). For the present. however, 111 'n the world over are for allowing their womenfolk as . heir equals. But for women '.o be superior to men, that's liff erent. I:t's no wo1;der, lhen, that women will forc·ver nag and nag un+.il the end of this world and l:Jng af. ter we have crossed the Great Divide. make a beeline for the near· £-St typew·riter and keep the keys busy. Damn the literary rules! Just write in your usual way, in your natural styl:e. Just write what you think as the ideas come up your head. You cannot copy somebody's style because ~rours is a part of your cha1;acter. You cannot be what you ar·e not. Who knows that what you have writ.ten which you think as trash would turn out iater to be a masterpiece? Yes, whu knows ? Schubert never had the faintest idea that his "Moonlight Serenade" woulrl b() for (•ternity. He did ·not even attend the occasion for .vhich he was suppos·ed to personally play the original piece on the piano. Go ahead, write Even if it is not blood in your veins Eind air in your lungs. Write something about everything and about sometlung. The world is strewn with all sort~ of literary subjects ·from needle to anchor, from footwear to headgear, trom new look to dol')..'t look,~ from bullet to atom bombs, from downswept to upswept hairdo's, from pin up to pin down girls, from pcpsicola to apalachicola, from backpay to payback, and now that election is ensuing, from promises to compromises, etc. Never mind the rejection slips from the "hard- boiled" E:ditors. That's a part of the game. A famous r.:rime story writer had wrilten more than enough crime storit•s to fill up the pel.itentiarifs before he ha<l a sir..gle ~tory published. A Canadian writer had enough rejection slips to paper a room before he ever saw his by line. Just write down your thoughts minus the idea of beinv. an author. At least, sooner or later, you will hit the mark, even iVOU may call it luck or not. If it turns out that wh1t you have written appears interesting-, after enough practice, the sellin?; come<: as a matter of course. If vou ate a sentimentalist, perhaps, like Charl~~s Dickens, ynur tears would roll do1vn your cheeks the first moment in your October 8, 1949 lifetime you can seo your name in print. As Dickens wrote, "I walked down to Westminster Hall and turned. into it for half fill hou'!", because my eyes \\-'._ere so dimmed with joy and pride they could' not bear the street.." Don't give up your ho~s. Joseph Conrad and RLS were sailors, Lincoln was not a college man, our Stevan Javelana did not specially study journalism. Yet, they were abe to write of the immediate things around them. \Vhatever your ca.:reer is, you still can write. Go to it. THE KUOMINTANG ... (Continued from page ~1) ment from the Presidencv early this year, Madam~ Chiang's departure for t.he Umted States nearly ten months agn and finally Dr. T. V. S•)ong'i:z exi;t from th~ Chinc·~e political scene. . - The Soonf?S are regarderl as ono of the most reinarkablP families in China. The old.e.st of the three Soon!!'. Sh~ ters, Ai-ling, married H. H. K-ung. Ching-Hng marrie·l Sun Y at-sen ithe youngest and the best known internationally, Mei-ling, became the wifo of Chian.I!' Kai-shek. The key posts in the Chinese Governmenit from the•1 on, except for brief periot.ls, were in the hands of Chiang. T. V. Soong and Kung. The strug-gle within the Kuomintang is still on - this hme beb~-t!en the "Kwangsi Clique," represented by Acting President Li Tsung-jen and Gerwral Pai Chung~hsi, anrl the righttwing faction liead·e.i by Chiang. Man:y Chinese predict that the struggle will end in the Kwl'l.nS'si Clique seeking comprcmise with Mao TEe-.tun;? and 1;hat Chiang and his associat1~.~ will take political re. fuge Hbroad . Th~ leftwini? faction wifoin the Kuomintang, represeni.1~d by Madame Sun Yatsen, has a~ready gone over to the 0Jmm1mist cause, according lo Communist announc~ ments from Peiping.