ANCIENT HISTORY OF NANKING

Southland Times, Issue 23393, 28 December 1937, Page 6

ANCIENT HISTORY OF NANKING

CHINA’S HERITAGE OF CULTURE PALACES CELEBRATED IN LITERATURE Nanking (“the southern capital”) is the name by which Kiang-king, the chief city in the Province of Kiangsu, now reported to occupied by the Japanese, has been known for several centuries. As the result of the prewar its normal population, before'the evacuation caused by the advance of the Japanese began, had been swelled to about 1,000,000. The city is about half way between Canton and Peiping on the south bank of the Yangtze river, 235 miles from the sea. The Chinese Government in 1899 voluntarily threw Nanking open to foreign trade and in 1919 it was connected by railway with Shanghai. There is a depth of from 17 to 45|t at the quays and all vessels can reach the city if they are able to pass the flats at the mouth of the Yangtze. The Nationalist Government (Kuomintang) decided to remove the capital from Peiping, as a further dissociation from the old regime, and, in view of the special position of Nanking this city was chosen as the Republican capital in 1927. In 1928 and 1929 the city was the scene of frequent disorders connected with the alleged malpractices of the Nationalist authorities, but its position as their headquarters offered too many advantages for it to be lightly given up.

The history of Nanking can be traced back for 3000 years, during which time it has known 17 different names. Its first period of glory ended in 280 A.D., in capture, pillage and destruction at the hands of the Eastern Tsins, who made the site the capital of their empire. In 318 A.D. the first emperor of that dynasty built a palace of 3500 rooms on .the top of what is now called Drum Tower Hill. A century later another emperor* built palaces that are celebrated in Chinese literature. FLOORS OF GOLDEN FLOWERS Then, in 502 A.D., the Liang dynasty started to rule in Nanking. The new Emperor built a palace, the floors of which were encrusted with golden flowers. Colleges were founded, canals were dug and roads and bridges constructed. However, little of these past glories are now to be seen except the tomb of one emperor and the Great City Wall, for the city has been rebuilt several times. There is now a surprising amount of land still rural within the city wall, and the visitor can see market gardens, bamboo groves, lily ponds, extensive woods and rice fields. The old part of the city, with its narrow cobbled streets, crowds towards the south and east. The newer buildings, half Europeanized, straggle northward toward the river and the railway. On low hills stretching from the West Gate to the north stand the houses of English and American businessmen, where once were emperors’ pleasure grounds. Cutting through the 'panorama, like a sharp reminder that Nanking is now a city of the 20th century, run the wide paved roads built by the present Government. And flanking these new roads stand the many modern buildings which house the administration of the republican regime. Other large buildings scattered throughout the city are colleges, universities and schools, for Nanking has kept its heritge of culture. When it became clear that the Japanese intended to march on Nanking the Chinese Generalissimo, Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, on November 23, personally took charge of the defences of the city and prepared to resist the threatened attack with a force of 400,000 men. The swift Japanese advance on the city was greatly facilitated by their domination of the air, but the Chinese were reported to have bought Russian aeroplanes as a counter measure. It was stated in Tokyo recently that the Japanese Government was seriously thinking of declaring war against China “as a Christmas present to Marshall Chiang Kai-shek. CHINESE DEFENCE FORCES The Chinese defence forces included 12 divisions of the National Army under General Tang Sheng-chik, who from 1932 to 1934 was chairman of the Chinese Military Advisory Council and subsequently Director-General of Military Training. The garrison of the city itself consisted of 40,000 soldiers from the far-distant Szechuan Province. The Chinese at the outset apparently staked, everything on a delaying action on prepared lines. Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, in an interview with the Nanking correspondent of The Times, London, on November 22, declared that the Chinese armies would resist the enemy at Nanking, and would continue the fight to the province of Szechuan if driven into the interior. The Government, he said, intended to defend the capital like the Shanghai area.