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on the Shameen also contributed to a settlement of the " strike." The merchant a volunteers eventually came to blows with the Government forces over the disposal of the "Hao arms, and after a pitched battle in the streets of Canton were easil crushed. They had counted on the help of some of the Yunnanese mercenary leader, who, however, saw on which side their bread was buttered, and naturally took the course by which their own hold on Canton was strengthened. This gave fresh encouragement to the extreme elements, and only the collapse of the Chihli party and Wu Pei-fu in North China averted for the moment fresh trouble in Cantou. Kuomintang influence, fostered by the Soviet, had steadily permeated throughout China, and from being confined to the single province of Kwangtung, had become an important political factor in the country. It had now a "People's army
in the troops of the Christian general; and at the military academy at Whampoa, near Canton, cadets were being trained in batches to form at the same time an officer cadre and a trained corps of propagandists. It is worthy of note that the bulk of these students were not natives of Kwangtung, but came from other parts of China and from abroad. Dr. Sun's departure for Peking and his death there in March 1925 may be briefly mentioned. Although he had been in precarious health for mor than a year, yet his great personality proved a strong rallying point for all tho opposed to the feudal and autocratic rule of the military governors, and had acted as a curb on the more extreme elements among the party. The position of the Yunnanese (to whom were allied the Kwangsi) troops in Canton was particularly affected, as they had consistently been on the moderate side and cared for nothing but the retention of their sources of revenue in Canton. They meditated a coup d'Etat in April 1925 to gain supreme control, but were deterred by the fact that the Cantonese army and the corps of military cadets lay on the East River region. and were supported by the armed labour unions and the student organisations in the city. They were, moreover, short of arms and ammunition, which their opponents drew in quantities from some hidden source, and the seizure of the arsenal proved abortive as the workmen were at once called out on strike. Towards the end of May they were attacked by the Cantonese forces. commonly known as the Reds. and after hard fighting, driven out of Canton, where the advanced elements are now in supreme control.
To gain a true appreciation of the situation in Canton. it must be remembered that of the enormous population of the province of Kwangtung only a small minority are members of the Kuomintang, the number in Canton, according to a recent estimate, being 15,000. In the country districts the labour and agricultural unions support the party; in the towns its strength lies in the labour unions (the formation of which, as opposed to the old guilds, is sedulously fostered), the students, the officials (even down to the most insignificant paid employees), and all articulate and educated sections of the people generally, with the exception of the merchants, who are moreover, timorous and badly organised. One of the planks in the party programme is the revision of all unequal treaties, including every matter which affects China's sovereignty and which they feel constitutes a standing disgrace China's national pride. They claim. for example, the immediate restoration of all foreign concessions, consular jurisdiction, control of the Maritime Customs, &c. -at one fell swoop. There is for them no midway step. While there has been no gener! anti-foreign feeling among the common classes in Canton, it does exist to a large extent among the intelligentsia, particularly the students, who create an effect out of proportion to their numbers, as the class of "literati has always been the most respected in China. It has also been connived at, if not actually encouraged, by the Chinese authorities, particularly since the Washington Conference led China to helieve that the foreign Powers were already prepared to surrender all their rights and privileges in China, and give up immediately every safeguard for the protection of the lives and property of their nationals, during a period of great disorder in China The Canton press. in name free, is notoriously under the thumb of the Kuomintang, and has done much in recent months to inflame public opinion by exaggerations or misconceptions of matters relating to foreigners. The example of Turkey in successfully defying the foreign Powers has been of great inspiration to the Chinese, who know that the Powers are now exhausted after the Great War, and hesides being disunited, are apparently unwilling to enter into further commitments abroad. There are few modern industries in Canton, and in none is any foreign capital interested. They amount to a tannery, motor-boat and launch building yards, a cannery, rice-bulling mills, stocking factories, silk filatures, and match factories of these, only the last two are in any way important.
In all labour
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conditions are very bad, as the workers belong to no union, and women and small Children work long hours under unfavourable conditions. Organised labour at anton is practically confined to the skilled trades, artisans, seamen, and cargo hours, Labour in Canton is in every way as independent and impatience of control as coolies, &c., and these have often successfully struck for increased wages and shorter labour in Great Britain, and it is from the ranks of organised labour in Canton that the Kuomintang draws its chief support. They have, however, been taught to regard the foreigner as one of the main obstacles towards the full achievement of the revolution, and look forward to the Democratic programme with its principles, as laid down in the testament of their deceased leader. The Kuomin tang authorities have repeatedly disowned any connection with Communism, which they aver is totally unsuited to Chinese conditions, and they assert that their friendship for the Soviet authorities due to their admiration of the success of the Russian revolution. and the inspiration derived therefrom. They are naturally led to contrast unfavourably the professions of goodwill and active assistance of the Soviet Government with the attitude of the other Powers, who, they fear, wish to keep China in a state of tutelage, but, on the other hand, they sincerely believe that all good men and true belong to the Kuomintang, and seek to impose the party programme (by force if necessary) on the whole country. Japan has for the past year pursued a policy of conciliation with China and avoided all cause of offence, but without making much headway, so long as the twenty-one demands remain lenounced; America is, rightly or wrongly, regarded as the friend of China, the one Power who has never sought any concession for herself in China: while Great history of her relations with China. It is Great Britain, with her subject peoples Britain has to fight against the atmosphere of mistrust inherited from the past
and her history of conquest in India and Egypt, who is constantly denounced in the press and by the student body as the "arch-imperialist and the oppressor of China. She is the butt of most of the attacks, owing to her strong attitude and lack of sympathy with advanced political ideas. Soviet agents have been active in creating such propaganda and in directing its dissemination throughout China. Several are employed in Canton and at the Whampoa military academy, and have been seen in the streets of the city accompanied by guards of Chinese soldiers. American, and especially American missionary, influence has also been to some extent anti-British. Their aim has always been more altruistic and less self-seeking than ours. This cloud of misrepresentation it is hard to penetrate, and it is difficult to persuade the average Chinese that Britain's sole object in China is trade. They point to the numerous shackles at present imposed on China's independence, and ask for concrete tokens of our goodwill. They themselves are to be the judges of what China is entitled to receive, and they resent well-meant efforts to rescue them from themselves and prescribe the steps by which their goal is to be attained.
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The average Cantonese student or graduate can only be described as a half- elated product. He has learnt but a smattering of Western culture, along with scraps of the most extreme Social-Democratic principles, and the leaven of new ideas rising in his mind, with its new-felt consciousness of national pride, has reated within his heart a burning indignation at the inequality of China among the nations. Unfitted for self-control by the destructive tendencies of the age and br his sudden release from the bonds of clan life, he cannot turn his mind to constructive plans for the restoration of law and order, and the eradication of widespread graft from his troubled country, but, instead. has his energies diverted by interested parties to the task of restoring China to the place among the nations The which she certainly deserves, but which she is as yet unfitted to occupy, Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, which took control after the death of Dr. Sun, has, among other activities, fostered the establishment within the past ear of an Anti-Christian Alliance, an Anti-Imperialist Countries League, a Union of Soldiers, Students, Workers and Agriculturists, and a General Labour Federa- tion of all artisans and organised labour in Canton, Hong Kong and Macao. cannot too strongly be emphasised that, apart from strikes against the imposition of new and excessive taxation, industrial movements in Canton hardly affect the foreigner in the south at all, labour being so cheap and so little dependent on mechanical devices; all movements directed against the foreigner have had a light industrial foreground with a large and ominous political background. practice, almost impossible to distinguish between the two issues. There is among the non-missionary foreign element in Canton a general feeling of concern at the licence allowed by the Chinese authorities to the students and other irresponsible
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