CHINA: Demotions Desired

Lean, high-strung Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek, big boss of the young Chinese Nationalist Government, worries mightily about the old Chinese virtues of his people. What time he can spare from Communism, Famine, Flood, and Japan he devotes to a moral crusade of his own invention known as the New Life Movement. Neatly codified, the N. L. M. contains such rules as:

I-4, Refrain from creating any sound while drinking or chewing. II-1, Clothes should be kept clean and in good order. II-2, Also well buttoned. II-9, All clothes should be made with native materials. III-9, Keep the lavatory clean. IV-12, Refrain from making big noises while on a train or steamer. V5, Obey orders of your superiors. V6, Have a plan before working. VII-6, Don’t read indecent books and don’t look at indecent pictures.

Pondering these elevating precepts of the New Life Movement recently. General Ho Ying-chin, dignified chief of the Government’s Military Affairs Commission at Peiping, asked himself what he and other high officers could do for China while simple soldiers were buttoning themselves up. Suddenly General Ho was struck by the great fact that China unquestionably has too many generals. In a passion of self-abnegation Full General Ho dispatched a petition to President Lin Sen at Nanking asking to be demoted to the rank of a mere Major General. “The rules governing promotion,” darkly added Full General Ho, “should in future be observed.”

Far from happy to receive this petition was President Lin, who does what he is told by Generalissimo Chiang and tries fervently to keep out of military squabbles. Not knowing where General Ho’s request for demotion might lead, President Lin replied with a noncommittal letter of effusive commendation which left Ho still a full general. Last week his brilliant subordinate, Lieut.-General Tsow Tsohua, one of China’s crack artillery commanders, raised the whole issue again by petitioning to be demoted to the rank of colonel.