PEASANT PAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 116, 12 November 1931, Page 19

PEASANT PAYS

CHINA'S LONG WARS

EIGHTY YEARS OF STRIFE

FIGHTING-FOE- FOOD

On they' march —3,000,000 soldiers under arms across a vast continent. On they march —during the spring and summer, these untrained, undrilled, rifle-bearing, hungry troops. Across the loess plains of North China, along the Yellow Kivcr, on both sides of the mighty Yangtse Kiang, from north to south, from south to north, they march seeking food for themselves and revenues for their generals. Sometimes they light for a principle, like nationalism or communism, but usually thoy iight because they need food and work. Warfare may or may not bring a salary; it always brings food while the lighting lasts. And what will a man not do to eat? writes George Sokolsky in the "Now York Times." It is better to be a soldier while one is still young than to hunger in Shensi, Hopei, or in Honan. Famine or conditions Approaching famine always leave a surplus population in such places; aud what should a surplus population do but fight, so that it may cease to be a "surplus"? It is advantageous to own a rifle, so that if the crops are poor one may still eat. Of course, one might become a bandit, but is it not more genteel to be a soldier? Besides, that is for the general to decide; for when he is paid by the Government he is a commander of a national army, but when ho is not paid by the Government he may be either a rebel or a bandit. It matters little whica one is, so long as one is. in territory where .there is revenue: local taxes to be taken, the salt tax to be sequestered, opium fines to be administered. . Three million men under arms, bocause there are 3,000,000 rifles in the country. If there were, 5,000,000 rifles there would be.C,000,000 men under

arms. Politicians and statesmen try to maintain peace and order, try to institute a modern system of taxes; philosophers and educators seek to develop a national language and literature; bankers and industrialists hope to build mills 'and factories-, and talk, of national eOOnomic councils—but on they march, these millions of soldiers. They pour out- of Turkestan into the Chihli plain; they tear down the mountains of Kwangsi into the rich Canton delta: they converge from all sides to taste of the luxury and riches of the ShanghaiNanking hinterland. EIGHTY YEARS OLD. But -where, the casual visitor from the more peaceful West may ask, is the war? What happens to the 400,000,000 Chinese during these wars, which have lasted intermittently for some eighty like Kai-feng or Chcng-chow or Tsi-nan are quite accustomed to wars, for some of the most important battles dring the last ten years have been fought in those parts of China. And the battles have grown more vicious since 1927, when the Manchurian troops were defeated by the Ironsides in Honan. No longer is it a matter of mere strategy, the generals on either side calculating their chances of success and. retreating accordingly. To-day they fight in these wars, fight to hold territory. To tho rebel or the bandit general territory meaus revenue; to tho Government it means both revenue and the unification of the country. The rebels have rifles, some heavy field-pieces, some munition, and lots of human beings. The Government troops are exactly the same kind of men as tho rebel and tho bandit troops. In fact, the troops are interchangeable; sometimes they work for the Government, sometimes for another boss. But the generals are often different. Some of tho Northern generals still live in the days at the end of the Han Dynasty, when a military man was a free-booting hero, when ho fought hand to hand-with his opponent, rescued his native city from' pillage, kow-towed to his mother before battle and reported the results to the manes of his ancestors. 'In a word, these generals are still feudal lords over soldiers that are still feudal: soldiers, and they fear neither aeroplanes nor poison gas, because as long as there is life there must be a fight. They know that they will go under 'before modern mechanised warfare, but they hope that they may retire to Dairen or Tientsin or Shanghai or. Japan.to enjoy their old age in gargantuan feasts on bears' maws and ginseng tea in the company of .Chinese singing and Japanese dancing girls. RUMOURS BEGIN. ■And tho peasant plants his wheat and his cabbago, and in some places rice and in others poppy crops. He builds a little mud wall about his village, and he joins a secret society, so that he may havo protection against these soldiers. He hears that a war is beginning somewhere in his neighbourhood. He. asks the headman qt his village'if .General 'Sliih Yu-shan is 'again rebelling against the Government. "This will cost money," he says. "They will eat our crops; they will collect' taxes in advance." But he continues to sow1 his crops; his wife continues to water and manure the vegetables; his son and daughter help him; his daughter-in-law is cooking the daily meals; the children play on the village threshing ground; the goat feeds on the grass over the tombs of their ancestors. Not far off two armies are fighting. Some say they are fifty miles away, others that they are a hundred miles away. Let them fight if they like it, but let thorn stay away from our village. Fighting is natural among men; besides, heaven has withdrawn its sanction from the rulers, for otherwise would there not be peace? Who can quarrel with heaven? But may these soldiers not come near our village. ■But soon one hears that they are coming. In fact, the elders of several villages in tho district (county) have been consulting about this trouble. One hot-head suggests that they join together to drive off the troops, but most of tho elders think that it would bo better to pay them off if they do not want too much and if they offer to stay

away from tho village and not molest die womenfolk.

WHAT KIND? It is most important to know whether the soldiers who are coming their way are Government troops or rebels; if they have been defeated or are victorious. If they are Government troops they aro apt to be reasonable, for the Government must maintain its dignity. They will only want advance taxes; well, those can-be -paid- if : they will, give receipts. If they are rebels, they may demand anything; well, that_ is, like all other human relations, subject to adjustment.' If the troops are victorious, they are likely to be lenient; if they are defeated, they are capable of hideous and1 unbelievable outrages. These are matters for investigation and thought. ■ A. young man is sent to spy out if the soldiers are really coming. He will travel to the next largo city, perhaps to the provincial capital, for news. He will write a letter, which a student will,read to tho village. The soldiers aro coming! All women stay indoors. The elders of the villages appoint a committee to inquire of tho General whether he can change his routo to avoid their district. If not, could his soldiers refrain from trampling their crops?' Could they pass through without stopping? ' : . An aeroplano flies overhead. : The peasants-used-'-to be frightened by the aeroplane-, ' but 'now they know'that it does little more than make a hole in the ground when it throws shells from heaven. Sometimes a house is hit. Well, all that is required to build a house is straw and mud, and both are plentiful. But if the shell should destroy the graves of the ancestors or the village temple, where ' the family tablets show an ancestry dating back 2000 yearß or so—how can one face sudch calamities? THE SOLDIERS COME. The committee of elders' returns. The troops are rebel troops, defeated. There has been heavy fighting along tho Lunghai Eailway, but nqt^rnuch damage has been done because the Government troops have been saving munitions. Tho rebels will occupy, this district, arid demand money and food according to a list provided by' the commissariat. To-night the elders will meet in the district city'to decide what can be done, just as each summer for ten years elders have met in similar emergencies to consider what they could do.

Tho troops come. They are barracked in the open space opposite the Confucian templo iti the district city. For ten years troops have come and gone from this place. Pedlars follow the soldiers-to sell them something for a copper or two.. Jugglers perform in the open 'squnre. Story-tellers fill the tea-houses. But the: peasants stay at Homo to: bo ready I'or emergencies. The village scholar,invites the General and his,officers to dinner at the one restaurant. in' the ■ district city. A feast is sorvetl. The' General is made welcome, but his chief of staff is told how grateful tho villagers, would bo if tho army moved to the next district. Largo bowls .of' nroodle's dripping, in pork soup, seasoned with soya bean oil, are given to the soldiers to (sheer them after their' defeat, in the hope that they will not molest the.pfeasant families. Three days later the troops are on tho march "to' the' next district. Tho peasants are poorer. . Money, wheat, chickens, pigs, eggs.-M.ho' soldiers have had a quota from each family. The scholar's son has been .made a local Magistrate. Tho peasant manures his crop. Ho looks heavenward, and hopes that the rain will be just enough—uot so much that thero will' be a great river flood, not so little 4hat there will; be a drought. If only thero could be peace and no soldiers, the peasant could equalise botwoen drought and flood, and he could repair his dykes and even make. a. profit on his- crops.... .... r