Directory_and_Chronicle_1929 — Page 601

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

CHINA

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the year the Wuhan cities were captured and Wuchang declared the new capital of the Nationalist Party. Threatened by a mob, urged to excesses by Bolshevist agita- tors, the British in order to avoid bloodshed withdrew from the Hankow concession and left it in control of a Nationalist committee of administration. During 1927 the Northern expedition intended "to unify" the country only succeeded in dividing the Kuomintang Party. Owing to the dissensions, rival governments were established at Nanking and Hankow, both claiming to represent the Nationalist cause. Following the decision of Nanking to oust Bolshevik influence the Hankow Government dis- appeared. The Nanking section extended its authority to Shanghai and continued intermittent warfare with the North, but no decision was reached for a long time a supreme effort was eventually made in the early part of 1928, and under leadership of Chiang Kai-shek the North was invaded. A clash occurred with Japanese troops at Tsinan. It proved only a temporary set-back, and very soon afterwards Chang Tso- lin retired to Manchuria. Just before reaching Mukden the Dictator's train was bombed, and he himself died of wounds. His son has established a separate govern- ment for Manchuria, while the Nationalists, who still have some of the "warlords" to contend with near the Great Wall, have transferred the capital to Nanking. In spite of internal dissensions they have endeavoured to formulate an united policy in which treaty revision and abolition of extraterritoriality figure prominently. In the autumn of 1928, conditions had so far improved that Chiang Kai-shek was proclaimed President of the Republic, and early in 1929 the Nationalist flag was formally recognised by the Northerners-the first deinonstration of National unity China has seen for many years.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1929 — Page 601

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