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It was in these out-of-the-way western districts along the Kansu border that much of the opium that went to eurich Lu Chien-chang was produced in 1915.
I
I had intended to continue to work northwards through the mountainous country along the Kansu border if possible all the way to Yenan-fu, but at this point, for the first time on the journey, I was compelled to abandon my proposed route owing to the objections and difficulties raised by the Chinese authorities. It should be explained that at the time of the inspection much of the north of the province was in the hands of disbanded and revolted soldiery who had taken to brigandage, more or less with the acquiescence of the provincial authorities, who, failing fands to re-enrol them as soldiers, had no means of dealing with them; so that in the districts north of Yaochou and the Wei Valley plains all ordinary traffic on the roads had long since crased. therefore expected some sort of protest when we started northwards from Fengh- siang-fu, but I felt that we could hardly omit about half the province from the inspection on that account, the more so as there were reasons to suspect poppy cultivation in the brigand-infested northern districts. My Chinese colleagues, while agreeing that it was most unlikely that the brigands, a partly political force which might at any time become a successful revolutionary army, would knowingly attack a party containing a British consular official, yet declined to proceed to parts where they would be at the mercy of the brigands and unable to protect either me or then- selves. They argued that it was impossible to proceed to the north of the province without at least a company of soldiers, and that it would be impracticable to penetrate with so large a force into the wild and sparsely populated regions 1 proposed to visit without undertaking an expedition on the scale of a small campaigu; and, though they did not openly say as much, they hinted that the existing military forces of Shensi at their disposal, being largely composed of ex-brigands, were so uureliable that a unit of them could not be trusted in such out-of-the-way parts, a fact of which I was well aware; nor indeed was it the policy of the Provincial Government to come into serious armed conflict with these brigands, whose assistance might at any time be required, as happened in the preceding year, in a conflict with Peking or another province.
Yaochou to Yenan.-Admitting the truth of their arguments, at any rate in so far as concerned the lack of control exercised by the provincial authorities throughout the north and the unreliability of the troops at their disposal, and being convinced that they were honestly doing their best to make the inspection a success, I agreed to a compromise, and turning eastwards from Ch'unhua to Yaochou we travelled thence northwards through the districts of Tungkuan, Yichun, Chungpu, Lech'uan, Foochou, and Kauch'uan to Yenau-fu, about eight days' journey. This is the main trail to the north of the province, and was therefore garrisoned with troops. This may, for all 1 kuow, be the only occasion on which a party inspecting a province under the treaty, have been unable to proceed where they wanted to go; but under the very abnormal conditions obtaining in Shensi at the time I think the Chinese authorities were justified in their attitude.
Since the sporadic enforcement in Shensi of anti-opiun measures during the past few years, the Yenan neighbourhood has become more and more oue of the chief centres of so-called secret poppy cultivation owing to its isolation, and to the fact that whole districts have been on and off controlled by brigands during these years. The country is exceedingly poor and barren in appearance, and very sparsely populated, but the poppy is nowadays not onltivated in fertile well-watered valleys and plains, as used to be the case, but in wild and inaccessible mountain regions, like the Chinlingshan in the south and these moutains in the north. Probably some was sown here last spring it is asserted that the brigands force the peasants to plant it -but I found that the Taoyin of the northern circuit and the local officials had been very energetic in so far as lay in their power, and think it unlikely that much opium, if any, will be harvested there this season. There is, however, no doubt that the poppy was grown extensively and openly in this neighbourhood last year, and that it was already above ground at the time the joint inspection was applied for by General Lu Chien-chang. The then provincial authorities must have known the north was not clean, but probably took it for granted that the brigands would effectually prevent the inspecting party visiting the northern districts at all. I brought the matter to the notice of the present authorities, but they naturally declined all responsibility for the acts of their predecessors, whom they had displaced by force of arnis.
Yonum to Hanch'eng.-At Yeoan-fu the news of the crisis in Peking and Shensi's declaration of independence reached us together with wild rumours of impending trouble in Sian-fu and the province generally. I had from the first decided that Yenan
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would have to be the northern limit of our tour owing to the advancing season.
But
in any case my Chinese colleagues were now so thoroughly alarmed that it would have been impossible to have induced them to penetrate still further into the brigandi-infested country to the north. The political situation in Shepsi being already most insecure, they anticipated, should civil war break out between the provinces, the collapse of the Sian-fu Government, followed by the usual military outbreaks aud local rebellions, which would find us stranded in these remote districts. The position of the two Peking delegates was particularly awkward, representing as they did the Central Governinent in a province which had declared its indepen-lence It was fortunate the news did not reach us earlier, for otherwise they would probably have refused to proceed to the north at all. As it was, they desired only to get out of these lawless northern districts as soon as possible, without being particularly anxious to follow the main road, with its unreliable garrisons of ex-brigands in doing so. As a result we were enabled to carry out my original plan for the return journey, and proceeding eastwards for two days' march to Yench'ang, we travelled thence south through Yich'uan to Hanch'eng to the Yellow River, a long and difficult five days' journey by little-known trails through wild and almost uninhabited mountains. With the exception of the Top'ing trail in the south, this was about the hardest portion of the whole arduous tour, owing to the difficult mountain paths and the extreme poverty of the brigand-infested country traversed. The whole of Northern Shensi has been practically abandoned to the brigands during recent years, and in this remote region the effects were shockingly apparent. The ravages of brigands are actually depopu lating the countryside, and empty cities, abandoned villages, untilled fields, and ruined farms were everywhere met with. To give one instance, the district city of Yich'uan, formerly quite a large and prosperous place, is now empty save for the magistrate and his staff and a dozen or so families of the poorest class, the former inhabitants having abandoned their homes and emigrated to other districts or provinces after being raided by the brigands time after time. Most of the other district cities in the north are in much the same plight, and no one but the poorest coolie ventures on the roads. I meution this to show the extraordinary state of affairs at present existing in Northern Shensi, and the lawless conditions with which the Chinese authorities had to cope in suppressing cultivation and arranging for the joint inspection. The chief action they took in the latter respect was to enrol a regiment of local brigands as Government troops early this year, and station them in and around Kanch'uan and Yench'aug as a measure of pacification to enable the joint inspection party to proceed to that neigh- bourhood, this being the recognised method of dealing with these brigands when they become particularly objectionable, provided funds are available to pay them. It is, however, only a local and temporary alleviation; and it is to be feared that, on the occasion of the next revolution or rebellion in which Shensi is involved, the Sian-fu authorities will lose what little authority they now exercise in the north of the province, and that there is then likely to be a considerable recrudescence of poppy cultivation in that region.
Hanch'eng to Sian-From Hanch'eng we proceeded south-west through the fertile districts of loyang, Ch'engch'eng, Puch'eng, Tup'ing, and Sanyuan to Sian-fu, the provincial capital, a long week's journey. We remained there a few days, being entertained by the provincial authorities, but the programme of receptions, banquets, and other festivities was somewhat interfered with by the political crisis, one of our two principal hosts, the Civil Governor, being held under arrest by the other, his military colleague.
From the time we emerged from the mountains at Hanch'eng till we re-entered the Ch'inling ranges south of Paochi, two to three weeks later, we were travelling through districts where the poppy was ordinarily speaking out of season, the wheat being already harvested. But I had purposely arranged to be crossing the plains of Central Shensi at that time of the year owing to the custom there of growing the poppy That is to say, instead of being sown in early spring and harvested
as a summer crop.
in May and June, before the wheat, as is usually the case, it is sometimes planted in early summer so as to be in flower in July. This is what was done to a considerable extent in 1916, when the joint inspection which had been arranged for having been cancelled at the last inoment, the farmers in some districts in Central Shensi, realising the situation, found time to reap a good harvest of opium by growing the poppy as a
summer crop.
Sian to Paochi.-From Sian-fu we travelled west for a week through the rich districts of Central Sheusi, Hsienyang, Hsingp'ing, Wukang, Fufeng, Ch'ishan, and Paochi. Ch'ishan particularly was formerly notorious for spring and summer opium.
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