China: Stubborn Optimism

Fifty years ago on the tenth day of the tenth month in 1911, the city of Wuchang on the Yangtze River was captured by a band of rebel followers of the late Dr. Sun Yatsen. It took another four months of fighting before the decadent Manchu empire was overthrown by Sun Yat-sen’s republicans, but Chinese everywhere have always celebrated the “Double Ten” date as a national holiday.

On the Nationalist island of Formosa last week, there was a march past of 11,000 troops while 160 jet fighters roared overhead. A dozen Nationalist frogmen swam ashore on the uninhabited Red Chinese island of Pinglangyu and planted Nationalist flags on the beach. In Taipei, Nationalist President Chiang Kaishek declared that conditions on the mainland resembled those of 1911, “when even the officers and men of the Manchu ‘new army’ were longing for the great day that was soon to dawn.” With stubborn, visionary optimism, Chiang predicted large-scale uprisings soon in Red China, and promised that he would then launch a “massive counteroffensive” to help topple the Communists.

In Peking, the Reds have previously soft-pedaled the Double Ten celebration, possibly because of its accent on a spontaneous explosion of oppressed people. Last week, speaking to an audience of 10,000, Premier Chou En-lai belittled the overthrow of the Manchus as “an old-fashioned democratic revolution led by the Chinese bourgeoisie.”

Both the Nationalists and the Reds sought to enlist the support of the 14 million overseas Chinese scattered throughout the lands and islands of Asia. In Thailand, Chinese celebrated Double Ten with firecrackers and dragon parades. In Hong Kong, Nationalist flags far outnumbered those of Red China. Most overseas Chinese still cautiously avoid total commitment to either side. Explained a Chinese industrialist in Hong Kong: “Just because we are anti-Communist doesn’t necessarily mean we are pro-Nationalist.” But Formosa is sure that the number of anti-Communists among the overseas Chinese is increasing.