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might befit the principal lady in China, but which
give offence to her previous acquaintances of humbler
rank, whom she now chooses to ignore. A curious
story has just been told me, illustrating (if true)
the lack of real power possessed by Marshal Chiang
even in Shanghai. It seems, so I am told, that his
wife, when recently in Shanghai, attended a dinner given
by Mr. Ch'an Kung-pok, a noted Communist, whose name
you will find repeatedly mentioned in my earlier
despatches to you. Madame Chiang was on this
occasion kidnapped and her husband was unable to
recover her cxcept by payment of a ransom of three lakhs
Whether this story is true I cannot say;
of dollars.
but the fact that it is on the lips of many prominent
Chinese in Hong Kong, and is related with much gusto,
suggests that there is little respect in Southern China
for Marshal Chiang and his wife, whose marriage itself
caused great scandal among the Chinese,
3.
If Marshal Chiang is to become in reality
the head of a government representative of the whole of
China, he must obviously deal in the first instance
with two groups in the Nationalist party, which are
by no means friendly to him at heart, on the one hand
that which is led by the so-called "Christian General ", Fếng Yu-hsiang, and on the other hand the Kwangsi
group, of which Marshal Li Chai-sum is the most
important member. It seems that Marshal Chiang's policy will be to grapple successively with these two
groups and that his present aim is to remain on friendly terms with Feng Yu-hsiang, while doing all in his
power to undermine the Kwangsi group.
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