CHINESE WAR LORD

Evening Star, Issue 22524, 17 December 1936, Page 17

CHINESE WAR LORD

CULTURED. INTELLIGENT, AND UNSCRUPULOUS A Consul-General is giving him a “ tea ” (writes Marc T. Greene, discussing a Chinese war-lord). No one knows to how much power he may sooner or later attain. It is wise, therefore, to conciliate him, quite regardless of the merits of the business, if any. If he is well treated h© may remember it at an opportune time and be ready with “ concessions.’’ Behold him, then, sitting in state, almost enthroned, indeed, at one end of the reception room. He is clad in the richest silks, and as he regards the gathering with bland indifference he smokes a Turkish cigarette in a richlycarved ivory holder more than a foot long. On a little table at his elbow stands a glass of the tepid sweet champagne served to such guests as do not care for tea. PIERCING EYES. The militarist is a man somewhat past middle age, with deeply lined face and straggly moustache. His eyes are the noticeable feature. They are keen and piercing, and you feel that you yourself and every person in the room is being carefully appraised to some calculated purpose. Ho is, as the phrase goes, sitting on top of the world. He has succeeded in defying the Central Government for some time in a certain rich and important province under his complete control, and it has been thought best to buy him off. This morning he has received his price, said to be more than a million taels. The money has been gouged out of Chinese bankers by the Central Government, or “ borrowed temporarily ” from foreign loans. No one can say which. But the militarist has lost no time in salting it away well out of reach of Chinese bankers, the

Central Government, the vagaries of Chinese exchange, or other exigencies. For none knows better than he that, although to-day ho is up. to-morrow he may be down—and possibly out. Many other well-dressed Chinese are present, together with two or three score Europeans, including the foreign correspondents. The Chinese, some of them in Western garb, cluster propitiatingly around the militarist. WerO he out of power every one of them would immediately repudiate him. Indeed, some of them have done so in the not distant past. These are especially anxious to ingratiate themselves, but he is well aware of them. He speaks to them pleasantly enough, but he will quite as blandly cut off their beads when and if opportunity offers. They understand that perfectly, and the possibility that he may attain much power makes them uneasy. Ho is known to be perfectly merciless, and even the protection of the foreign concessions will not save his enemies if he elects to curtail their activities. Some of them even now, as they regard him furtively and finger the tight collars of their European clothes, are weighing the relative merits of the several steamship lines to elsewhere. He touches his lips to the glass of tepid champagne and languidly wipes his straggling moustache with a beautifully embroidered silk handkerchief. He does not like the wine, for he is accustomed to the best vintages, which he secures without difficulty through English agents in Hongkong. Moreover. he is anxious to spit, but refrains because at the moment he is making certain concessions to the singular prejudices of the barbarians. The Consul-General appears and bows with exceeding courtesy. Certain interests have been conciliatory of late, and he hopes the new power will be likewise, to the advantage of deserving persons not in China for their health. Ihe militarist regards the official serenely. If you are observant you will mark something of condescension in the coiitemplation. For the Chines© understands the position perfectly. He is important now, and is being catered to. Were he in obscurity no one would pay him the least attention.

He follows the workings of the European mind so easily that their total lack of subtlety arouses his contempt. And, corrupt, rapacious, venal, and ruthless as he is, he despises his host and his entire breed. He believes they all, even as himself, have each their price. And ho scorns them the more because the price they are able to secure does not compare with that paid him. He is more powerful than any of them. To-morrow he will go to Nanking, apart, of course, from the slight but ever-present possibility, that someone mav interfere in terms of hot lead. This had happened to other less careful persons powerful in Chinese affairs, but he is prepared in the presence of a strong and heavily-armed bodyguard even now lounging about but ever alert just outside the entrance to the ConsulateGeneral. With_ the guard about him, like secret service men about a President, h© travels in an armoured autor mobile. Another with a cunningly-con-cealed Lewis gun follows closely behind it. The Marshal takes no chance? and nothing for granted. DEALING WITH BARBARIANS. His tranquillity of mind is enhanced now as ho thinks of a recent purchase. He has secured an “ adviser,” one who was a Con&ul on the China Coast uhtu he acquired the bad habit of living overlavishly on a modest income. That income will now bo sufficient for almost any scale of existence, and in return for it 'the militarist will be advised as to the intricacies of dealing with the barbarians. . . , , Such is the militarist, ransher of China, despising his own people and their tame submission to centuries of oppression almost as much as he scorns the foreign devil. He is selfish, coldblooded ,and corrupt, one of the greatest of all obstacles to the unification and to the internal peace of China.