CHINA: War Resumed

Quiescent now for several moons, the Chinese civil war broke out suddenly last week in all its Chinese fury and the results were buried in customary Chinese contradictions.

Lineup. Chang Tso-lin, onetime “King of Bandits,” now Super Tuchun of Manchuria, self-styled All Highest Grand Marshal of China, potent dictator of Northern China, actually in control of Peking.

Feng Yu-hsiang, onetime “Chinese Christian Soldier,” whose military affiliations, as always, are uncertain, but who has two armies, one to the north-west and one to the south-west of Peking, and for the nonce is backing the Nationalist or Southern cause.

Yen Hsi-shan, Super Tuchun of Shansi, so-called “model province,” who last week threw in his lot with the Nationalists, after months of alleged political bargaining. He has long been considered the kingpin in the Chinese situation; if he joined Chang Tso-lin, then the Nationalist cause was doomed; if he joined the Nationalists, then the fall of Peking might be considered certain and Chang driven back to Manchuria.

Chang Tsung-chang, Super Tuchun of Shantung, in alliance with Chang Tso-lin. His province is to the south of Peking.

Sun Chuan-fang, onetime Tuchun of Shanghai, in alliance with Chang Tso-lin and Chang Tsung-chang. His troops recently advanced to the outskirts of Nanking and are at present massed in Kiangsu, south of and contiguous to Shantung.

Nationalist Armies concentrated in the Nanking-Shanghai area and commanded by a military council of five members (TIME, Oct. 3). Onslaught. For variously attributed reasons, the most popular being Bolshevik machinations, Yen joined forces with Feng in a joint attack on Peking. The onslaught was directed from the north, where Kalgan was captured by Feng’s northern army, and from the south, where Yen’s troops beseiged the city of Paotingfu. Predictions were that Peking was due for an early fall, but successful counter-attacks by Chang’s army put the situation in doubt, although it was certain that Peking was threatened by the most powerful military alignment since the Chinese civil war broke out and that the troops in this alignment were closer to the Chinese capital than ever before.

Meanwhile Feng, who was stated to have received $1,000,000 from the Nanking regime definitely to throw in his lot with the Nationalist cause, prepared to advance on Peking from the south-west with three primary objectives: capture of Tenchow on the Chihli-Shantung border; advance on Tsinan, capital of Shantung, by way of Tsining, to the south; capture of the Suchowfu railroad junction to the south of the Shan-tung-Kiangsu border. All these moves were designed to prevent the Shantung and Kiangsu generals from aiding their ally, Chang Tso-lin.

The Nationalists also girded up their war loins and prepared to run with exceeding swiftness into the fray, thus to aid their ally, Feng, to distract the attention of Chang Tsung-chang and Sun Chuan-fang.