MANCHUKUO: Emperor by March?

The rumor, current in highest Japanese circles last week, was that on March 1 the puppet ruler of Manchukuo, Mr. Henry Pu-yi, will be proclaimed Emperor, will surround himself with a Court largely composed of Chinese who served him when as the babe Hsuan Tung he sat on the Dragon Throne at Peking.

The result was frantic scrambling in the bazaars of Peiping (once Peking) by one-time Chinese courtiers, court eunuchs and palace servants who paid fantastic prices last week for Manchu robes and bits of court regalia which they had sold for next to nothing after “Christian” War Lord Feng Yu-hsiang drove the boy Emperor out of Peiping’s Imperial Palace. With hopes high over 100 kinsmen of the Manchu House left Peiping for Manchukuo, led by Puppet Henry’s Cousin Prince Kung.