ROUGH COUNTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 4, 6 January 1933, Page 7

ROUGH COUNTRY.

Missionary Describes Jehol Province. i SEVERE WINTER CLIMATE. An interesting description of the fallen city of Shanhaikwan and the province of Jehol, in Northern China, is given by Mr. L. R. Steele, a Presbyterian -missionary, who is now resident in Auckland, "When I knew it about 18 months ago, Shanhaikwan was quite a large city of about 20,000 inhabitants, mostly Chinese," he said. "It had large railway workshops and it marked the spot where the Great Wall of China comes down from the mountains to the sea. Its capture by the Japanese certainly will assist them in holding the lines of communication." Mr. Steele added that there were only about seven towns of any size in the province. The rest, of the population lived principally in scattered mud villages. The country was hilly and desolate, and at this time of the year the temperature probably would be about 20 degrees below zero. The Japanese had fairly considerable interests in parts of the territory, and there were large coal deposits in the vicinity of Shanhaikwan, which added to the importance of the district. Th.« chief products of the territory were millet, wool and skins, but ever since 1924 the country had been a mere cockpit of war and production had suffered a considerable slump. From 1924 to 1927 it had been a highway for Mancliurian troops, and it had never really recovered. ■ • If the Japanese aimed at complete occupation of the Jehol territory, he did not see how it was to be accomplished. The-country was so rough that it would take years of guerrilla warfare, before it could be subdued. Fighting, I should say, will be confined to the railway zone, from Tientsin to Shanhaikwan. Many of the peaceful Chinese peasants in the actually would welcome Japanese occupation if it were to result in freedom from the perils of war and brigandage. The Japanese, however, would be opposed by the Chinese climate, as well as Chinese troops. The winter lasted from October iintil the end of April, and during the year the temperature ranged from about 104 degrees above zero to about 20 or 130 degrees below. The country would be in the depths of winter for another three months, and the Chinese would be able to withstand the rigours of the climate better, than the invaders.