Foreign News: Ma v. Marx

While Red armies swept unchecked toward Canton, news came of a jolt to Communist hopes in China’s far Northwest. Last month 120,000 Reds under General Peng Teh-huai had chased an old Nationalist adversary, moody General Hu Tsung-nan, from the stronghold of Sian (see map). The way to rich Szechuan province and its famed capital Chungking seemed open. Instead, Communist Peng’s men, thrusting on from Sian, rushed into a trap; it was the Chinese Red army’s first defeat since the start of their all-out offensive.

The trap was sprung by hard-riding horsemen of Ma Pufang, the Moslem boss of China’s Northwest. First, retreating Hu Tsung-nan made a stand some 75 miles from Sian. Then, swooping from the mountains in the Communist rear, Ma’s cavalry, about 20,000 strong and led by Ma’s 29-year-old son, Major General Ma Chi-yuan, took the Reds by surprise, cut them up, forced them into ragged retreat. Last week, Ma’s cavalry were still carrying on the fight against four Communist armies in the vicinity of Sian. For awhile, at least, both the Northwest and Szechuan would be valiantly defended.

The New Boss. The tidings of his son’s victory reached Ma Pufang as he was settling down in his big stone headquarters outside the walls of Lanchow, gateway to the Northwest. The dying Nationalist government had appointed him supreme commander of an area about 13 times as big as Texas, mostly wasteland, underdeveloped and underpeopled (about 14 million—one-third Han Chinese, one-third Moslem Chinese, and the remainder Tibetans, Turkis, Mongolians, Kazaks). Ma’s elevation put the Northwest on its own. His land was a poor holding in comparison with the lost coastal regions and lush river valleys, but, until conquered, it would be a thorn in the flesh of Communist China.

Ma began his rule in characteristic style. From Sining, capital of his own

Chinghai province, where he has been lord and governor since 1936, he sent a column of his Moslem cavalry to Lanchow. They pitched their white tents and grazed their horses on the city’s airfield, took over the guard of public buildings. Ma was making sure that Nationalist troops in Lanchow would not revolt against him. Then, unannounced, he followed in a green Buick escorted by a truckful of bodyguards.

The Old Pillar. Black-bearded, burly Ma Pufang, now 46, has been a pillar of anti-Communist strength in the Northwest ever since his troops hurled back the Communists of the Long March in 1934-35. A highhanded but benevolent despot, he has also given his spare, dry, upland Chinghai province (pop. 1,500,000) some of China’s best roads, extensive irrigation works and a spectacular reforestation program. Over 13 years he supervised the planting of millions of willow, poplar and acacia seedlings to shade the roads, check riverbank erosion, supply fuel. “Even when I was a little boy,” he once explained, “I liked to plant trees. In Chinghai, trees mean greenery and water, life and abundance. I sought to persuade my kin and friends to plant trees. I had no power then and made little headway. But as governor I acquired the power to persuade . . .”

Ma’s “persuasion” took the form of drafting his people for tree planting. Once a year every village was given a quota of seedlings and told where to plant them. No man might destroy young trees; Ma’s penalty for illegal cutting was “one head for one tree.” Ma made education compulsory for all children through the age of 16. He gave the students books, uniforms, board, and one silver dollar monthly in pocket money. To improve the public health, he ordered all citizens to kill and turn in to the authorities 5 to 15 flies daily. He kept inflation out of Chinghai; today one silver dollar, worth about one U.S. dollar, will buy 200 eggs or five live sheep.

Arms & the Men. Ma’s army, about 250,000 strong, has drawn heavily on Chinghai manpower. The military draft age is 16 to 45, but strictly enforced regulations provide that at least one able-bodied man must be left behind with each household. Training is intensive, stresses local loyalty. Ma’s biggest military problem is adequate arms for his men.

With what they have had, Ma’s men have consistently beaten the Communists. Just a year ago young Ma Chi-yuan, the cavalryman, mauled three Red columns trying to sweep around Sian. An only son, young Ma is the apple of his father’s stern eye. Reared under severe Moslem discipline, he likes to plaster his headquarters with such Chinese proverbs as “Genius never neglects labor.” He also likes U.S. movies and swing, dislikes the Russians because, among other things, they intend to make war on the Americans. He has two wives. When Chinese newsmen asked him which he preferred, he said he loved “both.” Not content, the newsmen asked what room he visited first when he returned home. Like a Solomon, young Ma replied: “I always go to my mother first. Usually my two wives are there.”

With the help of his soldier son, the elder Ma thinks he can more than take the measure of the Communists: “Without aid from the Nationalist government or the U.S., I can hold this area indefinitely and even take back Sian. With aid, I could mount an offensive that would take back Peiping.”

Ma & son were not likely to get outside supplies. They might overextend themselves even if they tried to recapture Sian. But they stood a fighting chance to hold the Northwest for some time to come. When & if the Communists struck them in a major assault, Ma & son might still hold out by withdrawing to the wild mountains of Chinghai.