“MOTHER OF CHINESE GUERRILLAS”

Southland Times, Issue 23838, 8 June 1939, Page 6

“MOTHER OF CHINESE GUERRILLAS”

VISIT TO SOUTH SEAS TO RAISE FUNDS HONG KONG, May 2. Mme. Chao Yu-tang, “Mother of Chinese Guerrillas,” left Hong Kong recently for the South Seas aboard the French liner Marechai Joffre. The moving spirit behind thousands of guerrillas operating throughout China is a Manchurian woman, 58 years old. Madame Chao is known throughout the guerrilla ranks as “our old mother.” Time has turned her hail' white, crisscrossed her face with lines. But one thing age cannot dim is her enthusiasm, almost bordering on the fanatic, for the cause espoused by the irregulars—to defeat Japan. “I am an old woman and do not know how to speak,” she said. “Today I am going to the South Seas to raise funds to rearm the guerrilla units. I hope bur compatriots will listen patiently to an old woman who is better able to carry a rifle than to talk. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of Hong Kong and Canton. Altogether in these two places I have raised £7500. Of this I have sent £5OOO to the five guerrilla armies in the north. The rest will be used to organize a guerrilla force in Kwangtung. My boys do not need much money—only enough to pay villagers for food and to buy ammunition for their rifles.” FORCE 15,000 STRONG The “mother” is proud of the fact that she helped organize the powerful National Anti-Japanese army, now 15,000 strong, near Peiping. “We love our country,” she continued. “We fight for its existence. We are always ready to co-operate with any people who fight against the Japanese invaders. These are all the principles of our political platform. We fight not for our own fame, nor position, nor party, but for the emancipation of our fatherland from Japanese Imperialism.” Madame Chao, whose maiden name is Hung Wen-huo, was born into a poor Manchu family on the Liao-tung peninsula in Manchurio. She was brought

up in the cradle of Far-Eastern conflicts. “I saw the last Chinese-Japanese war when I was 14 years old and the Russian-Japanese war at 24,” she said. “The outrages of the Japanese troops as well as of the Tsarist soldiers in my native district in those two wars left an indelible hatred of aggressors on my heart.” • 1 :■ When she was 17 she . was married. Eight daughters and four sons were born. They were living happily in their native province seven years ago when the Japanese invaded the territory. “I long for a happy and peaceful home again, but what will become of my family if my country is lost,” she pointed out. “I am convinced there will be no more happy home for us Chinese until the Japanese are driven back to their native land. For the reconstruction of our homes I sent my I sons, daughters-in-law, and daughters to the front, and devote myself to the country, leaving my 76-year-old husband alone in Hunan.” ARMY in MANCHURIA

Following the Japanese occupation of Mu!/en in 1931 guerrillas took up arms throughout Manchuria, and most of them died within two years. One of the few guerrilla armies which still carries on the struggle against the Japanese is the Young Iron and Blood army in Liaotung peninsula. This army was born in Mme. Chao’s home when the old woman, together with two sons and three young students, pledged to unite the people and resist Japanese imperialists. The young men then went into the mountains, leaving Mme. Chao and her daughters to serve as “communication officers,” ammunition transporters, and organizers of recruits. Many times the old woman went out in snowstorms to bury rifles in the forest or in old tombs; many times she escorted new partisans to guerrilla headnuarters. Sometimes when the guerrillas come into her courtyard she would look after them personally, and, when they were hotly pursued by the Japanese, help them to escape. When Hweihsen fell into Japanese hands, friends who came back from the front informed .Mme. Chao that her daughter had been killed by the Japanese. With tears in her eyes the old mother of the guerrillas said: “I did not regret sending my daughter to the front.” She has gone now to Singapore and the East Indies to collect money to organize a guerrilla army in Kwangtung so that Canton may be recaptured. “I am an pld woman now,” she declared. “I may die soon. Yet I still devote myself wholeheartedly to my country and would rather work to death than wait for it.”